China’s court hears nation’s first AI voice rights case

BEIJING: The hearing on China’s first case concerning the right to voice generated by artificial intelligence (AI) started on Tuesday (Dec 12) at the Beijing Internet Court, which has to decide if an AI-powered imitation of a person’s voice can be considered as the person’s original voice, and if the technology used in the process infringes upon the person’s right to voice.

The litigant is a voice-over artist surnamed Yin, who discovered in May that her voice was being used in many audiobooks circulating online for which she had not signed any contracts or granted permission.