Academy Award winners Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have partnered with AI audio company ElevenLabs to create digital copies of their voices. The deals come as many Hollywood actors fight against AI use in the entertainment industry.
According to Yahoo Entertainment, McConaughey has been an investor and early supporter of the platform for years. He plans to use the voice cloning technology to launch a Spanish edition of his Lyrics of Livin‘ newsletter. Caine has listed his voice on the company’s new Iconic Voice Marketplace. The platform lets brands and producers pay to use AI versions of celebrity voices for projects like audiobooks and ad campaigns.
Celebrity Voices Join Digital Marketplace
Caine’s voice now appears alongside digital replicas of deceased celebrities Judy Garland, John Wayne, Babe Ruth, and Alan Turing. First Lady Melania Trump also worked with ElevenLabs to publish an audiobook version of her memoir using an AI copy of her voice.
McConaughey praised the company in a statement. He said he has been impressed by how the ElevenLabs team turned the core technology into products that creators and storytellers use daily.
Platform Expands Content Options
The Iconic Voice Marketplace offers content creators access to recognizable voices for commercial use. Brands can license these AI-generated voices for advertising and media projects. The deals mark a business opportunity for actors willing to monetize their vocal identities through technology.
Hollywood Stars Push Back Against AI
Many prominent actors have spoken out against AI in filmmaking. Three-time Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro declared his opposition at a New York screening last week. He later told NPR he would rather die than use generative AI in his films.
Academy Award winner Emma Thompson expressed intense irritation with Microsoft’s AI assistant offering to rewrite her scripts. Robert Downey Jr. vowed last October to sue future executives who create digital replicas of his Iron Man character without permission. Nicolas Cage called AI inhumane and warned young actors about the technology.
Boris Rehlinger, the French voice of Ben Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix, is leading the TouchePasMaVF initiative to protect human dubbing from AI replacement. He told Reuters he feels threatened even though his voice has not been replaced yet.
The Screen Actors Guild struck for 118 days in 2023 to secure protections from AI. Video game performers ended a year-long strike in 2024 with a contract requiring explicit consent and cryptographic proof for any AI-generated performances.
