Meta Eyeing Celebrity Voices for new AI Tool
The company is in talks with high-profile celebrities for millions of dollars in exchange for permission to use their voices in its MetaAI assistant tool.
Meta is reportedly offering millions of dollars to celebrities Judi Dench, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key to lend their voices to its new AI feature, MetaAI assistant. This move signals both a potential threat to traditional jobs and new opportunities for companies leveraging machine learning tools.
The negotiations between Meta and these high-profile actors have been ongoing, primarily due to disagreements on the terms of voice usage. Bloomberg was the first to report on this development, with the New York Times later adding that Hollywood’s top talent agencies are included in these talks. Meta aims to use the voices across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and augmented reality glasses. However, talent representatives are pushing for more usage limitations.
While the specifics of how these voices will be incorporated remain to be seen, Meta has expressed its goal to develop a digital assistant capable of going toe-to-toe with Siri and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This ambition follows an incident earlier this year when ChatGPT faced backlash for using a voice that closely resembled Scarlett Johansson’s without her consent, prompting its removal. Meta is keen to avoid similar controversies and is negotiating carefully to avoid upsetting top talent.
The voices might also be used for virtual friends, a concept Meta has experimented with in the past involving text-based chatbots modeled after celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, and Paris Hilton. However, this experiment did not resonate well with users and was eventually discontinued.
SAG-AFTRA has allegedly reached an agreement with Meta on appropriate terms when utilizing celebrity voices in its products and services. Despite achieving some protections from AI in recent labor contracts, concerns persist among actors and other industry professionals about the adequacy of these protections. These concerns were a significant issue in last year’s strikes involving writers and actors’ unions that brought Hollywood to a standstill. Meta continues to explore AI integration, including an AI studio for content creators to develop chatbots based on themselves.
As Meta prepares for its Connect tech conference in late September, it might additionally aim to secure these deals not only with actors but also with influencers. The use of generative AI technology in entertainment remains a tense topic, especially among labor groups and unions who fear it could take the place of human talent such as actors, screenwriters, editors, and animators. Voice actors are seen as particularly in danger of AI replacement.
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a recent earnings call that his company would increase its AI investment to at least $37 billion this year, up from the $30 billion initially projected at the start of the year.