Morgan Freeman shared a note thanking his fans on Friday morning, expressing his gratitude for users’ efforts calling out unauthorized AI impersonations of the actor’s recognizable voice.
The celebrated 87-year-old actor has become a legend for his narration in films such as “March of the Penguins,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Million Dollar Baby.” The excellent reputation of Freeman’s voice has made him an especially popular target for AI-generated voice imitators, including in a recent study. viral series of TikToks created by a woman posing as the actor’s “fake niece.” Freeman is not a fan of the practice.
“Thank you to my incredible fans for your vigilance and support in calling out the unauthorized use of an AI voice impersonating me,” the actor wrote. “Your dedication ensures that authenticity and integrity remain paramount. Satisfying. #AI #scam #impersonation #Identity Protection”
Freeman’s representation had no further comment.
The actor’s comments come at a time when AI impersonations have come under scrutiny in the entertainment industry. Scarlett Johansson’s legal team recently called on OpenAI to reveal how it created its AI personal voice assistant, Sky, and to take down the chatbot for being extremely similar to her own voice. Johansson said she was approached last September by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman asking to use her voice for a conversational form of ChatGPT, but she declined for “personal reasons.” The actor said last month that she was “shocked, angry and in disbelief” that the AI company went ahead and used a voice very similar to hers after she refused to work with them.
Altman also reportedly contacted her agent two days before the voice assistant demo was released, asking her to reconsider. The company paused use of the voice assistant, but stated that the voice was not an imitation of Johansson.
In April, Drake also came under fire from Tupac Shakur’s estate for using an AI impersonation of the West Coast rapper in his song “Taylor Made Freestyle” in which he dissed Kendrick Lamar. Howard King, who represents Shakur’s estate, sent Drake a cease and desist letter, stating that the song was a “blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”
The song also used an AI-generated verse from Snoop Dogg, who vaguely took to Instagram in a video on April 20 addressing the situation, stating: ‘What have they done? When? How? Are you sure? Have a nice evening everyone.” Drake set the record on April 26, a week after it was posted.
Hollywood has begun pressing Congress to take action on AI, but it is unclear what, if any, laws will be passed to control the technology.
