AI voiceovers

I’m the first to admit that AI is clever stuff. It is already helping achieve amazing results in many fields. I employ some AI powered tools when I use photo editing software to clean up noise and remove objects etc. AI is simply another aspect of science and technology moving forward, just like the plane, the motor car, space flight, IVF, digital photography, the internet and so much more. 

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As a result, AI voiceovers are now a thing and they're pretty convincing some of the time. And from a producer’s perspective, you can certainly see the appeal: they are quick, you have a vast range of accents and styles to choose from....and of course they are much cheaper than using someone like me! I get it. 

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But consider this: the AI voiceovers that you might want to use could have featured on any type of project. Maybe it’s already used by a direct competitor’s product, an extreme political production, a controversial social media video or even featured in X rated productions. That voice could be available for use by pretty much anyone. And while it might be based on a real voice, the results are still artificial. The passion and emotion in that voice is simply generated, not felt. 

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You might be completely okay with all this...and that’s fine. But if any aspect of the above makes you pause and think for a moment then maybe AI voices are not the answer. Of course, as a voiceover artist, I would say this wouldn’t I? But I am human, I really do care about where and for what reason my voice is used. I don’t and won’t record any directly political jobs, I have turned down certain jobs on ethical grounds and I can sign exclusivity agreements preventing embarrassing conflicts. You can’t discuss any of this with an AI voice. 

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Give your clients – and their customers - the human touch. Tell them that a real person will feel and live their script to deliver a true living and breathing voice rather than one that’s tweaked with a set of sliders. Tell them they can talk to the real person if they want rather than scroll through a list of predefined options. Please, choose a human. 

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