Former NPR host David Greene is suing Google after accusing the tech giant of stealing his voice for use in one of its AI-powered tools.
Greene, who presented NPR’s Morning edition for eight years until 2020 and now moderates the political podcast Left, right and centertold the Washington Post that he “completely freaked out” when he heard the voice of Google’s NotebookLM, a tool that summarizes documents and generates spoken audio overviews, in a voice that sounds very similar to his own.
When friends and family came forward to ask if the voice was his, he decided to sue Google, accusing the company of violating his rights by copying his voice for NotebookLM without asking his permission or offering any compensation.
Google has denied any wrongdoing. “These allegations are baseless,” a company spokesperson said, adding that the male voice in NotebookLM’s audio synopses “is based on a paid professional actor hired by Google.” It is not yet known who this actor is.
Listen to NotebookLM’s voice in the video below (it runs about eight seconds) and then listen to David Greene’s voice in the video below and see what you think.
NotebookLM:
David Greene:
Greene’s case is the latest to show how AI continues to upend the creative industry while alienating many of its employees.
It also recalls a similar case in May 2024, when actress Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of replicating her voice to use it as one of ChatGPT’s voices for the chatbot’s voice mode.
Johansson said she twice declined requests from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to use her voice and was shocked when the newly released Sky voice sounded “eerily” or “strikingly” similar to hers and her AI character’s in the 2013 film Herabout a lonely man who falls in love with an advanced AI operating system named Samantha.
Lawyers representing the actor demanded explanations about how the voice was created. OpenAI responded by removing the voice, claiming that it came from another professional actress, not Johansson, and insisting that it was never intended to imitate her.
As for Greene, he also has concerns about how Google’s NotebookLM tool can be used – in a voice that sounds very similar to his – to spread conspiracy theories that he personally would never believe, although some listeners may believe that’s exactly what he’s doing.
Unless an agreement is reached beforehand, it will be up to a California court to decide whether Google violated Greene’s rights to his voice or likeness.
