28 August 2026
Actors demand UK law to protect voices from AI cloning without consent
First reported
BBC News and The Guardian ran this on , all on the same day.
- Over 80 performers including Matt Lucas, Hugh Bonneville and Nicola Coughlan signed an open letter asking the UK government to make voice ownership a legal right.
- AI can clone a recognizable voice in seconds from brief audio samples, allowing criminals and companies to impersonate people without permission or payment.
- Twenty-eight percent of UK adults report being targeted by voice-cloning scams, and audiobook narrator Alice Sockett called the threat existential for her industry.
- Denmark has already passed laws giving citizens legal ownership of their face, body and voice, with rights to demand removal of unauthorized AI copies.
- The UK government said it will launch a consultation on voice protection, balancing harm prevention against allowing legitimate creative uses of AI voice technology.
Reported by The Guardian, BBC News