Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have signed deals with voice-cloning startup ElevenLabs, allowing the company to use AI-generated versions of their iconic voices.
ElevenLabs Debuts Iconic Voice Marketplace
The New York-based startup announced the deals and unveiled its new Iconic Voice Marketplace at the company's inaugural Summit last month. The marketplace is a two-sided platform where companies can request access to celebrity voices for projects and content, according to ElevenLabs.
ElevenLabs, founded in 2022, also said it has has partnered with agencies including brand licensing and legacy management firm CMG Worldwide to bring legendary voices and estates to the marketplace.
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McConaughey Expands Long-Running Relationship With ElevenLabs
McConaughey said he has been an investor in ElevenLabs for several years and is expanding his relationship with the company. "It's been amazing to see the growth from those early days to where the company, and the technology, is now," he said in the company's statement.
McConaughey will use the technology to expand his newsletter, “Lyrics of Livin’,” with a Spanish audio edition featuring his cloned voice, according to a video played at ElevenLabs' summit. The newsletter was launched "as a way to share stories and ideas in my own voice with those who want to listen,” McConaughey said.
"To everyone building with voice technology: keep going," the actor added. "You're helping create a future where we can look up from our screens and connect through something as timeless as humanity itself — our voices."
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Caine Says Technology Celebrates Humanity
ElevenLabs is “using innovation not to replace humanity, but to celebrate it," Caine said in a statement. The technology is “not about replacing voices; it’s about amplifying them, opening doors for new storytellers everywhere," he added.
Caine’s voice will be available on the ElevenReader app and on the newly launched marketplace, ElevenLabs said. The actor joins more than 25 other iconic voices on the platform, including John Wayne, Liza Minelli and Laurence Olivier, according to the company.
Marketplace Connects Companies With Rights Holders
The Iconic Voice Marketplace allows companies to request approval to use voices for projects, but does not provide blanket access, The Wrap reported. Instead, the platform connects interested parties with the relevant brand or intellectual property rights holder, and once both sides agree, ElevenLabs’ technology is used to formalize the collaboration or licensing deal.
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The marketplace “demonstrates how AI can responsibly expand opportunities for studio and talent, while enhancing storytelling,” Staniszewski told Variety. He called Caine “an iconic creator and voice whose cultural and artistic consequence we hope will only be further championed through this platform.”
ElevenLabs Faces Past Misuse Concerns
ElevenLabs initially developed its technology to dub audio in different languages for movies, audiobooks, and video games while preserving the speaker’s voice and emotions, the Associated Press reported.
However, shortly after its public release in 2022, ElevenLabs acknowledged in January 2023 it was seeing “an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases” and promised new safeguards, including limiting features to paid users. A year later, a digital consultant used ElevenLabs software to mimic then-President Joe Biden‘s voice in a robocall message sent to thousands of New Hampshire voters, according to media reports.
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