Artificial Intelligence has blurred the lines when it comes to what’s real and what’s just a clever simulation. That can be a positive, when it’s done with permission and clearly identified, like what NBC Sports did during the 2024 summer Olympics using Al Michaels’ voice.”‘Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock’ will feature narration from a ‘high-quality A.I. re-creation’ of Michaels’ voice, trained using his past appearances on NBC in order to match his ‘signature expertise and elocution,’ the streaming service announced,” NBC News reported.Some will question whether even that type of use should be allowed. Still, using a man’s voice with permission is a very different case from a realistic deepfake. For example, this video of John Harbaugh commenting on his firing by Baltimore isn’t real, but led to my mother casually commenting to me that she was shocked he got hired by the New York Giants.AI can capture human voices and reproduce them. One company, Lovo Inc., which was built to do just that, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after facing a lawsuit that accused the company of stealing voices.AI lawsuit forces Lovo into Chapter 7″A lawsuit from a group of voice actors accusing AI voiceover generator Lovo Inc. of training its platform on their voices without proper permission was paused after the startup filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy,” Bloomberg Law reported. Judge J. Paul Oetken of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York stayed the case on June 11 in light of Lovo’s notice of bankruptcy, halting proceedings ahead of a June 16 hearing on Lovo’s motion to dismiss.The lawsuit was very clear in its allegations.”Plaintiffs Paul Lehrman and Linnea Sage bring this putative class action against Defendant Lovo, Inc. alleging that Lovo used artificial intelligence to synthesize and sell unauthorized ‘clones’ of their voices. Plaintiffs assert claims for violations of New York civil rights and consumer protection laws, the Lanham Act, and the Copyright Act, along with common-law contract, fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition claims,” the lawsuit reads.Case Snapshot: LOVO Inc. Chapter 7 filingWhile much of the debate around AI voice cloning remains theoretical or tied to celebrity misuse, court filings show a real-world legal test case that is already playing out.Court filings show the company is now in liquidation under Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.Company: LOVO Inc. (AI voice generation / synthetic speech platform)Bankruptcy chapter: Chapter 7 (liquidation)Assets: about $245,224Liabilities: about $17,788Case listed as “no-asset” case (limited or no recovery for creditors)Court: U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New YorkCase number: 1:26-bk-11249Filing date: May 27, 2026Judge: Lisa G. BeckermanTrustee: Alan Nisselson
The pressing legal question of who owns your voice has not been decided by U.S. courts.Shutterstock
AI lawsuit raises legal questionsWhile most Americans have likely never heard of Lovo Inc., the question of who owns your voice is a significant legal issue that impacts everyone.”This case involves a number of difficult questions, some of first impression. It alsocarries potentially weighty consequences not only for voice actors, but also for the burgeoning AI industry, other holders and users of intellectual property, and ordinary citizens who may fear the loss of dominion over their own identities,” the court filings explain.A number of celebrities have faced having their voices cloned.”It’s the new badge of celebrity status that nobody wants. Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey and Kylie Jenner have all had their voices cloned by fraudsters…. And this weekend David Attenborough described himself as ‘profoundly disturbed’ to have discovered that his cloned voice had been used to deliver partisan U.S. news bulletins,” The Guardian reported.Many of these cases fall into a legal gray area, according to Dominic Lees, an expert on AI use in film and television.“Our privacy and copyright laws aren’t up to date with what this new technology presents, so there’s very little that David Attenborough can do,” he told The Guardian. More Bankruptcy:Outdoor retail giant closes 59 stores in Chapter 11 bankruptcyLuxury retail chain wins court approval, exits bankruptcyPopular breakfast chain franchisee files Chapter 11 bankruptcyMisrepresenting celebrities is not the only problem.”The ‘granny scam,’ as experts refer to imposter scams that sometimes weaponize voice cloning tech to scam people using their loved ones’ voices, is not a new phenomenon,” Axios reported. The problem, however, is getting worse.”The pace at which it’s now happening and the believability of the voice has fundamentally changed,” Rahul Sood, chief product officer at Pindrop, a security company that develops authentication and fraud detection tools, told Axios.Can AI voice cloning be stopped?The Lovo Inc. Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing likely means that the company will liquidate, since that’s its stated intention, and the lawsuit will not move forward.The World Economic Forum wrote about the growing problem and potential solutions.”Prevention will be better than cure,” the groups shared in a report titled AI is finding its voice and that’s bad for democracy.Zohaib Ahmed, CEO of Resemble AI, sees the solution as an “antivirus for AI”, “this hidden thing that’s going to be embedded into not just these distribution channels but onto your operating system itself.” He draws parallels with SSL and the padlock that clearly shows users when a connection can be trusted, according to World Economic Forum. Some see the situation as being already out of control. “The monster is already on the loose,” Hafiz Malik, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan, told the Associated Press. “The question is where to point the finger and how to put the genie back in the bottle? We can’t do it.”Related: Another airline files for bankruptcy protection, cancels flights