Google sued by former NPR host over NotebookLM AI Voice

A former NPR anchor has filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent company Alphabet, alleging that the tech giant used his voice on its shows. LM notebook I have a product.

David Greene, former host of NPR’s Morning Edition and current host of KCRW’s Left, Right & Center, filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court in Santa Clara County. “Google used Mr. Green’s voice without authorization, and then used those stolen copies to develop, train, and improve its AI-based streaming product, NotebookLM,” the lawsuit alleges.

NotebookLM is an AI-powered research assistant that creates insights from the data you enter into the system. Google last year foot NotebookLM audio and video overview. In the first case, anyone using the software can create an AI-powered podcast based on information in a file you upload. Green says others began telling him after the fall of 2024 that he added the feature that one of the voices on those podcasts sounded very similar to his own.

A Google spokesperson told CNET: “These allegations are baseless.” “The male voiceover in NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews is based on a paid professional actor hired by Google.” Google has not identified the voice actor it says it paid to work on NotebookLM.

According to the lawsuit, Green said he hired an independent forensic software company specializing in voice recognition to compare his voice to the voice in question on NotebookLM.

“The company conducted a comprehensive analysis of the vocal similarity between Mr. Green’s voice and the voice used in NotebookLM,” the lawsuit says. “Tests indicated 53% – 60% confidence (on a scale of -100% to 100%) that Mr. Green’s voice was used to train the NotebookLM driver.”

The voices of professional or celebrity voice actors have been the subject of previous complaints, lawsuits, and licensing deals. In 2024, Scarlett Johansson Raised concerns About OpenAI’s voice sounding similar to her own. The company has removed the audio on both. Last year, ElevenLabs closed a deal to Licensing votes Celebrities including Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine.