ElevenLabs unveils AI celebrity voices with Michael Caine and Matthew McConaughey

Hollywood’s new voice deal

Imagine hearing Michael Caine’s iconic voice narrating your audiobook, even if he never steps into a recording studio. That future is now here, thanks to a groundbreaking new deal with the AI company ElevenLabs.

This partnership is creating a major shift in how we think about celebrity voices and creativity, moving from science fiction to reality. Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars are now embracing this digital frontier, helping to shape a new and ethical market for synthetic voices that could change media forever.

Stars lend their voices

Actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have partnered with the AI firm ElevenLabs to create digital replicas of their voices. This means their distinctive vocal likenesses can now be used in new projects they personally approve.

McConaughey isn’t just lending his voice; he’s also an investor in the company, showing his strong belief in its potential and ethical approach.

This move signals a growing trend of celebrities actively participating in the AI space rather than resisting its advancement, setting a new precedent for others in the industry.

A digital voice double

This advanced technology can create a perfect digital copy of a person’s unique voiceprint. It can then generate entirely new speech in that voice, saying things the person never originally recorded, which opens up incredible possibilities for content creation.

For instance, Matthew McConaughey is already using it to create a Spanish-language audio version of his newsletter, narrated in his own authentic voice without him needing to learn the language.

McConaughey’s big investment

Matthew McConaughey has invested his own money into ElevenLabs, underlining his deep commitment to the company’s mission and technology. He has been collaborating with the team since the company’s early days, long before this public announcement.

The actor believes this technology is a powerful tool for storytellers and creators to enhance their daily work and expand their reach. He sees it as a key to unlocking new forms of connection and allowing his own projects, like his newsletter, to resonate with a wider, international audience.

Caine’s hopeful vision

92-year-old Michael Caine sees this technology as a way to amplify human creativity, not replace it. His AI voice is featured in a promotional reel explaining this very idea, acknowledging that new technology is often met with understandable caution.

However, the legendary actor believes human passion and artistry always prevail in the end. He eloquently states that this technology is simply a new medium for timeless human expression, a tool that can preserve and share powerful stories for generations to come.

The iconic voice marketplace

ElevenLabs launched a new platform called the Iconic Voice Marketplace, a digital store for brands. Here, companies can request to use officially licensed AI voices of celebrities, including Caine, Liza Minnelli, and Maya Angelou.

ElevenLabs says the marketplace uses licensing agreements with talent or their estates to provide permission and compensation, but critics say questions about enforcement and scope remain.

This creates a legal and transparent environment for brands to access iconic voices while respecting the rights and legacies of the talent behind them.

How the marketplace works

The marketplace acts as a careful matchmaker between interested companies and the talent or their estates. A brand must first submit a request detailing its project and how it intends to use a specific celebrity voice.

ElevenLabs then connects them with the celebrity or their rights holders for direct review and approval. This crucial process ensures the star maintains full control over where and how their digital voice is deployed, protecting their legacy.

Major financial backing

ElevenLabs is a major player, considered a “unicorn” company valued at over one billion dollars. It is backed by powerful venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, showing strong investor confidence.

The company recently offered an employee tender that set a secondary market valuation of about 6.6 billion dollars, roughly double its Series C valuation earlier this year.

This immense financial faith highlights the huge potential that investors see in the future of ethical and realistic voice AI technology and its applications across various industries.

Hollywood’s complicated relationship

The film industry’s relationship with AI has been unstable and filled with concern. Fears about its unregulated use were a central issue during the recent Hollywood strikes, with workers worried about being replaced.

Since those strikes, new union contracts have established crucial protections for performers regarding digital replicas. These agreements have made some artists more open to exploring collaborations with AI companies, provided they have consent and are compensated fairly for the use of their likeness.

Other celebrities joining in

ElevenLabs isn’t the only company creating these partnerships; Meta also announced AI voices featuring stars like Judi Dench.

The marketplace mixes living celebrities like Michael Caine and Liza Minnelli with voices recreated from archival recordings for historical figures such as Mark Twain and Maya Angelou, and ElevenLabs says it works with estates or rights holders for those projects.

Its roster spans from old Hollywood stars like Judy Garland to scientific pioneers like Alan Turing. This demonstrates the technology’s dual potential to collaborate with modern artists and to respectfully preserve and honor the voices of influential figures from our past for educational and creative purposes.

Not everyone is on board

Despite these deals, significant skepticism remains in the creative community. Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, added a message to his new show proudly stating it was made by humans. He has been openly critical, calling AI a costly plagiarism machine.

Similarly, actor Morgan Freeman has expressed frustration with unauthorized voice clones and has pursued legal action to protect his distinctive vocal identity, highlighting the ongoing battle against misuse and the need for strong legal frameworks to protect artists.

New rules for a new era

In response to industry fears, new guild rules have been established. The recent SAG-AFTRA contract now requires explicit consent from actors for any digital replica.

Performers must also receive full, negotiated compensation for the use of their AI likeness, ensuring they benefit from their own image.

The marketplace is designed around performer-first principles and licensing, but legal and ethical questions about long-term enforcement and uses in political or sensitive contexts persist.

This is a step toward protecting performers, but not everyone is convinced. See why Emma Thompson has some spicy thoughts on AI’s creative role.

A tool for future storytellers

Proponents see this technology as a powerful amplifier for human creativity, not a replacement. It can translate content into different languages while perfectly preserving the speaker’s authentic, emotional tone.

It also offers the potential to narrate books or archive historical accounts with a familiar voice, even after someone is gone.

The ultimate goal is to augment and enhance human storytelling, not replace the humans themselves, opening exciting new doors for creative expression and global communication that were previously impossible.

Want to see the darker side of this technology? Discover how Keanu Reeves is fighting back against AI impersonators.

What’s your take on AI voices? Share your thoughts in the comments and give this a like if you found it interesting.

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This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.