SIOBHAN MCSWEENEY AND Nicola Coughlan are among the stars who have backed a campaign against AI voice cloning.

The Save Our Voices Now campaign has sent an open letter to British prime minister Andy Burnham “demanding clear, enforceable and legal ownership of their voice”.

Matt Lucas and Hugh Bonneville are also among the close to 80 actors who have added their signatures to the open letter to Burnham.

Irish actors Denise Gough, Niamh Cusack and Fra Fee have also signed the open letter.

While the letter states that the campaign is not against Artificial Intelligence, it states that backers are “opposed to theft”.

It comes as Denmark is making legal reforms to give its citizens legal ownership over their own face, body and voice, allowing them to demand removal of unauthorised AI content and seek compensation.

McSweeney said she is “deeply worried that legislation, contracts, working practices and ethics, and artists’ rights are not being considered or protected as quickly as AI technology is progressing”.

“I believe that there is a way to work alongside AI and to use it as a tool that benefits us rather than rendering us obsolete,” added McSweeney.

“This is an existential problem and needs to be controlled legislatively as soon as possible.

“My voice is one of my tools.

“In order to adapt and move with technological advances, I don’t see why we should remove the human from the equation. Our audiences want that human connection, not AI.”

Around 80 actors have signed the open letter Save Our Voices Now Save Our Voices Now

Save Our Voices Now founder Peter Caulfield remarked that “in just three seconds, with the right AI system, your voice can be cloned, stolen and reinterpreted without your knowledge.”

“It’s a Black Mirror episode except this isn’t fiction,” said Caulfield. “It’s happening right now.”

He said David Attenborough’s distinctive voice “has been cloned tens of thousands of times without his consent”.

Attenborough has previously said he is “profoundly disturbed to find that these days, my identity is being stolen by others”.

Caulfield accused these platforms of “stealing artists’ talent, livelihoods and income”.

He said voice artists and narrators as “even more vulnerable, without celebrity status to shield them”.

He added that criminals are “using AI technology to defraud families and steal identities” and that 28% of UK adults say they’ve been targeted by a voice-cloning scam.

“We are demanding the UK government give every citizen legal ownership of their own voice,” said Caulfield.

“We should all have the right to protect our voices from AI voice theft.”

Caulfield is also calling on the UK government to “place the legal burden on providing consent for the use of a voice on the platform and AI developer, not the individual”.

He has also called for this to be “enforceable in UK courts against any platform serving UK users, regardless of where the platform is based”.

-With additional reporting from Press Association