Nicola Coughlan and Matt Lucas among stars backing campaign against AI voice cloning
Around 80 actors and public figures, including Nicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville, and Matt Lucas, have signed an open letter urging Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to introduce legislation protecting people's voices from AI cloning. The campaign, called Save Our Voices Now, targets technology that can replicate a real person's voice and make it say anything.
Why this matters: Your voice is one of the most personal things you own. AI cloning can already reproduce it convincingly enough to put words in your mouth you never said. For actors, that is a direct economic and reputational threat. For everyone else, it is a fraud and impersonation risk that existing law was not built to handle. This campaign is pushing for ownership rights over something that used to be impossible to steal. The legislation does not exist yet. That gap is the problem.
Who should care: AI governance · Lawyers · Administrators · General readers · Policy
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