Hollywood Legends’ Voices to Narrate Texts: ElevenLabs and CMG Worldwide Partnership

AI start-up ElevenLabs has made a groundbreaking announcement. Legendary Hollywood stars' voices will soon narrate your texts on their app. This bold initiative covers articles, PDFs, ePublications, and newsletters in 29 languages.

The star-studded lineup includes Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier. These celebrity voices were secured through partnerships with the actors' estates. Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland's daughter, believes this partnership will introduce new fans to her mother's talent while thrilling existing fans.

The partnership was facilitated by the celebrity agency, CMG Worldwide. They believe it presents new opportunities for their clients. However, this development is occurring amidst Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA's legislation efforts.

The union aims to restrict the use of deceased performers' work without estate approval.
Despite these developments, there are doubts.

Professor of digital media at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Jean Burgess questions whether the audio will remain authentic. “It seems unlikely that they would be able to keep control of what happens to the audio that's produced by their model," she says. 

Furthermore, voice actors face serious disruption due to this technology.

- CyberBeat