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81Produce Agency, AI Company ElevenLabs Partner on AI Dubs Based on Voice Talent
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Talent management agency 81Produce and AI software company ElevenLabs announced a business partnership on Monday. The companies said that the partnership is for the protection of the voices of the voice actors under 81Produce from unauthorized third-party generative AI use, while allowing ElevenLabs to produce authorized AI-synthesized multilingual copies of the voice actors' voices "as needed."
ElevenLabs claimed to be able to use its technology to take voice acting samples with the consent of voice actors, and produce AI dubs using an actor's voice in 29 languages. ElevenLabs said this will improve productivity for various global streaming services and content providers, while maintaining the rights of the original voice actor and allowing a new residual revenue stream for them.
ElevenLabs also claims that the partnership will allow 81Produce to use its VoiceCAPCHA and digital watermark technologies, as well as its compliance to Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standards, to detect and halt unauthorized use of voices from 81Produce's talent pool.
81Produce (sometimes known outside Japan as 81 Produce) manages over 400 voice actors, including Shinichirō Miki, Ryūsei Nakao, Aoi Koga, Coco Hayashi, Yū Serizawa, Wataru Hatano, Tesshō Genda, Arthur Lounsbery, Hiroshi Ito, Yūko Kobayashi, Sōma Saitō, Kenta Miyake, Kent Itō, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Rumi Ōkubo, Reina Ueda, Rie Takahashi, and Madoka Yonezawa.
ElevenLabs is a New York-based AI software company established in 2022. The company established its Japanese branch on April 14 earlier this year. The Variety news source noted last month that ElevenLabs' Iconic Voice Marketplace includes the following authorized voices for licensing: Michael Caine, Liza Minelli, Art Garfunkel, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Bettie Page, Burt Reynolds, Maya Angelou, Richard Feynman, Laurence Olivier, Amelia Earhart, Babe Ruth, Mark Twain, Ty Cobb, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Al Joyner, Johnny Weissmuller, Jim Thorpe, Thomas Edison, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Mickey Rooney, Montgomery Clift, Alan Turing, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Rock Hudson. Matthew McConaughey invested in the company and is using its services to offer his newsletter in Spanish.
A number of Japanese voice actors formed a group called "No More Mudan Seisei AI" (No More Unauthorized Generative AI) in October 2024. One prominent member, Ryūsei Nakao (Freeza in Dragon Ball Z series, Baikinman in Soreike! Anpanman series and films), is part of 81Produce.
Talent management agency Aoni Production and AI voice platform CoeFont announced in October 2024 a new partnership which uses vocal data from 10 voice actors, including Masako Nozawa and Banjō Ginga, to create AI-replicated voices for use in virtual assistants (such as Alexa and Google Assistant), medical devices, robots, and voice-assisted navigation. The AI-replicated voices will be available in multiple languages, beginning with English and Chinese. The project acknowledges the potential threat to performers' rights and livelihoods posed by the use of generative AI, and promises that it will not use the voice training data for performances in animation, dubs, or similar works.
Voice actor Yūki Kaji started a campaign through the crowdfunding service Campfire to fund his Soyogi Fractal project in April 2024. The project would offer creators the means to use Kaji's voice to create new and interesting stories and songs, while also helping to prevent the illicit use of Kaji's voice. The crowdfunding campaign began on April 11, 2024 and ran until May 31, 2024 on Campfire. The initial goal was 10 million yen (about US$66,900), but the campaign raised over three times as much from 907 backers.
Sony Music Entertainment previously launched the YOMIBITO Plus audiobook app in March 2023, which used synthesized voices from CoeFont. The app features classic works of Japanese literature read by synthesized voices of three notable voice actors, including late voice actor Kenji Utsumi, Shūichirō Umeda, and Katsuyuki Konishi.
