Nicola Coughlan and Matt Lucas are among the actors backing a campaign to stop artificial intelligence from cloning human voices without proper protection. Save Our Voices Now wants people to have control over how their voices are copied, used and made to say things they never recorded.
The campaign says about 80 people have signed an open letter to the prime minister, Andy Burnham. A Gov.uk petition has also been launched, calling for everyone in Britain to receive ownership of their voice as part of their statutory rights.
At the heart of the dispute is a simple but powerful technology. An AI system can replicate a real person’s voice and use it to say anything the system is prompted to produce. That raises questions about consent, identity, work and the money made from a person’s voice.
Actors call for control and consent
Peter Caulfield, founder of Save Our Voices Now, says the technology can move from a short recording to a convincing imitation in seconds. “In just three seconds, with the right AI system, your voice can be cloned, stolen and reinterpreted without your knowledge. It’s a Black Mirror episode, except this isn’t fiction. It’s happening right now,” he said.
Caulfield also argues that the issue reaches beyond the entertainment business. “The bottom line is the government is allowing AI companies to steal and profit from artists’ voices without their consent. They are also allowing criminals to use AI to clone people’s identities and threaten everyone,” he said.
The campaign claims that 28% of UK adults report they have been targeted by a voice-cloning scam. That figure places the debate over performers’ rights alongside a wider concern about identity and fraud, since a copied voice can be used to make someone sound as if they said something they did not.
Hugh Bonneville has backed the campaign with a message about the personal nature of a voice. “My voice is unique, it’s mine, it’s part of my identity. So is yours. That’s worth speaking up about,” he said. The campaign also made clear that his quote was handwritten, not created by AI.
Siobhán McSweeney has focused on the gap between the speed of AI development and the rules meant to protect artists. “I’m deeply worried that legislation, contracts, working practices and ethics, and artists’ rights are not being considered or protected as quickly as AI technology is progressing,” she said.
Work, contracts and the growing divide
The argument has split Hollywood voice actors. Big-name performers can license lucrative digital replicas, creating a new source of income from an approved version of their voice. Freelancers face a different reality: AI voices are replacing human work in ads, audiobooks and online videos, while some workers fear that companies could use their performances to train their own replacements.
Most freelance gigs remain unregulated, leaving newcomers vulnerable to predatory contracts. Mid-career talent faces slashed incomes, hard choices and, in some cases, unauthorised uses of their voices. The result is a divide between performers who can negotiate valuable licensing deals and those who lack the power to set clear terms.
That divide also makes consent harder to define. A performer might agree to one use of a voice without agreeing to every future use, while a contract may not protect someone from how an AI replica is later reused. Save Our Voices Now is asking for ownership to sit with the individual, rather than being treated as an open resource for AI companies or other users.
Luke Evans, Jen Brister, Siobhán McSweeney and Pearl Mackie are among the supporters of the campaign. McSweeney is also identified as a Derry Girls actor, adding to the group of performers calling for stronger protection across the industry.
Denmark offers a legal model
Denmark is taking a different approach through law reforms that give citizens legal ownership over their own face, body and voice. Under those reforms, people can demand the removal of unauthorised AI content and seek compensation.
That model connects voice cloning with a wider idea of personal identity. A voice is not only a tool used for work; it can also identify a person, carry their reputation and make an artificial message sound real. Legal ownership would give people a way to challenge unauthorised copies instead of relying only on contracts or platform decisions.
The campaign in Britain is asking for a similar principle to become part of statutory rights. Its supporters want rules that address both the entertainment industry and the risks facing the public, including voice-cloning scams.
The dispute is not about whether every use of AI voice technology should end. Some performers are already licensing replicas for money, while others are warning that the current system leaves too much power with companies and too little protection for workers. The central question is who controls the voice once technology can reproduce it.
For Save Our Voices Now and its supporters, the answer is the person whose voice is being copied. Their open letter, the Gov.uk petition and the campaign’s public statements all press for consent, ownership and compensation to keep pace with AI voice cloning.
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