David Attenborough, the legendary natural history presenter, is rallying against AI — unathorized cloning, specifically.
The broadcaster and naturalist said he was “profoundly disturbed” after receiving notification from the BBC that his voice was being cloned by AI creators.
The situation was sparked when BBC News ran an item using voiceover from Attenborough’s latest BBC series, Asia. In the clip, he says: “If you think you’ve seen the best the natural world has to offer, think again. There is nowhere else on Earth with so many untold stories. Welcome then, to Asia.”
The BBC then played the same clip and asked viewers if they could hear any differences. Clue: they sounded almost identical, but the second was an AI-generated capture of his intonation.
It’s being reported the cloned voice is being used in news reports on YouTube channels such as The Intellectualist on issues such as the Ukraine-Russia war and the Donald Trump.
Attenborough told the BBC: “Having spent a lifetime trying to speal what I believe to be the truth, I am profoundly disturbed to find these days my identity is being stolen by others and greatly object to them using it to say whatever they wish.”
The creator that made the cloned Attenborough skit then responded, again using his voice, saying, “Let’s set the record straight. Unless Mr Attenborough has been moonlighting for us in secret, and under an assumed name with work authorization in the United States, he is not on our payroll. I am not David Attenborough. We are both male British voices for sure, but I am not David Attenborough for anyone out there who might be confused.”
AI clones of Attenborough’s instantly-recognizable voice have over recent months been popping up on sites such as YouTube, laid over content that he has clearly not been involved with making. While those creating the clones don’t believe there is any harm in scraping voices to create near-perfect versions of public figures, many believe they violate copyright and privacy.
In the U.S., the issue of likeness cloning last year led to the creation of the bipartisan Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act, or No Fakes Act, which would hold those creating clones responsible for their actions. It was introduced as a bill in August.
AI was among the most pressing issues in the writers and actors labor strikes. Earlier this year, an OpenAI voice called ‘Sky’ was pulled soon after launching after Scarlett Johansson objected to its likeness of her voice. She released a statement saying OpenAI founder Sam Altman had approached her about using her voice, and the moved ahead with the plan despite her rejecting the offer. She added that the voice was “reluctantly” removed by the company once legal action had been threatened.
We reached out to reps for Attenborough, but they declined to comment further.
Asia is a seven-party series for BBC One and iPlayer that launched on November 3. It is made by BBC Studios Natural History Unit, co-produced with BBC America, France Télévisions and ZDF.