Voice actors Paul Skye Lehrman and Linnea Sage are suing AI company Lovo for using their voices without permission to make AI models and seeking $5 million in damages.

In 2020 voice actor Paul Skye Lehrman accepted a request from the website Fiverr to do a voice-over for a fee. Years later, he claims to have heard his voice narrate a YouTube video and a podcast, without his consent.

When he took over the job from “User25199087,” as mentioned in the lawsuit filed, he was assured by the website that his voice would only be registered as a sample for academic research and not used for anything else. He was paid $1,200 for this job.

Two years later, he found a video on YouTube that was narrated using his own voice, but he had not been involved in the creation of the content. Also in June 2023, his voice was heard on a podcast about the dangers of using AI technologies.

Similarly, voice actress Linnea Sage was offered work by Fiverr in 2019 to provide voiceovers for test scripts. He was paid $400 for this job.

Lately, Sage found her voice on a YouTube video, which was a presentation by a Lovo investor about the new technology it wanted to introduce.

The two voice actors claim they were contacted by Fiverr were Lovo employees who misled them about what their voice samples would be used for and later sold them or made money using their voices to make AI.

So they’re suing AI company Lovo for allegedly assigning them voiceover jobs under false pretenses in order to create and sell AI-generated versions of their voices. The Berkeley, California-based tech company touts AI-generated voice technology for use in marketing, education and product demonstrations.