A robot stole my voice

Hello Patrons!

I just wanted to share a strange story from the world of GMTK.

So on Monday I received an email from a viewer who stumbled upon a video about DOOM: The Dark Ages and thought I should check it out.

Why? Because the narrator of the video sounded suspiciously... like me.

And after 5 seconds of watching it... yep! It's definitely me. The owner of this YouTube channel has use an AI, trained on my voice, to generate a voice over track that sounds almost exactly like me. It's a bit off - weird intonation, very monotone, and strange line readings. But it's unmistakably me.

(I've put a clip above - I don't want to link to the original video because I don't want to give this person any extra views)

This was a very strange experience. I didn't really know how to feel. It's a bit like plagiarism in that someone has stolen from me in order to profit. But it's not stealing my work or my labour - it's stealing a more fundamental part of me. Of my persona. Of my soul, if that's not going too far.

Now, look, I'll admit that I have used generative AI to make an artificial voice. I have a bot that can speak like me and I sometimes use it to create a scratch track of my script so I can edit the video - and then I go back and replace it with my real voice at the end.

And I even used an AI voice on a published GMTK video! Not that you would ever notice it, mind you. Basically: I made the video about the GMTK Game Jam and, whoops, messed up the date. I said July 31st, when I should have said July 30th. I needed to quickly change the video but didn't have access to my recording booth. So I got my AI to say literally two words - "July 30th" - and slotted them in. You'd never have known if I hadn't told you.

So... in some extremely limited, extremely rare cases, I'm okay with using generative AI for voice. But, here's the rub - I'm allowed to because it's my gosh darn voice! But I would never even think of cloning someone else's voice without their permission or consent. It's creepy, invasive, and frankly pretty disgusting.

So yeah, I'm kinda mad. And I would love for the video to come down.

I instantly filed a privacy violation report with YouTube, noting the videos (there's actually two of them) and asserting that they are using AI to clone my voice. YouTube then gave the creator 48 hours to delete the video without repercussion (which is a bit lenient if you ask me), or they'll step in. 48 hours later and the videos are still up - with one of them getting over 60,000 views, and thus a lot of ad revenue.

I haven't heard anything new from YouTube. Hopefully someone will look at it and delete the videos, confiscate the ad revenue, and - in a perfect world - nuke the channel from orbit. I'll give it another 24 hours before I start bringing in the big guns (reach out to my contact at YT, make a video about it, etc). I have spoken to two members of the press - here's one article, and here's me on Wired. So maybe that will get them moving.

I do empathise with YouTube, mind you.

This is very strange and uncharted territory for all involved. I presume that YouTube will have to do more on this in the future - perhaps make a tool that can scan for cloned voices, in the same way that it stops you from using a Taylor Swift song or a Star Wars clip. But right now all we can do is look for this stuff and report it.

But, fundamentally, this is something we're all gonna have to deal with going forward. The fact that it is now so easy to pilfer a fundamental part of someone - their voice, their face, their art style, their writing style, their singing voice... we're going to need more rules, more legislation, and frankly, we need to tell these creeps that this isn't right. That if they want to contribute creatively to this world then they need to make something for themselves. Taking inspiration is one thing, taking someone's voice is pathetic.

Anyway - I don't really know what to say.  I just thought it was interesting and noteworthy to share.

If it happens to you, or perhaps a YouTuber you follow, this seems to be the link to use. And please do notify them - the only way to combat this right now is to find and report the videos as they pop up.

Thanks, speak soon,

Mark