More Than 80 British Actors Demand UK Law Against AI Voice Cloning

More than 80 British actors, including Nicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville, Matt Lucas, Luke Evans, Siobhán McSweeney, Jen Brister, and Pearl Mackie, have backed the Save Our Voices Now campaign demanding that the UK Parliament make voice ownership a statutory right, citing that 28% of UK adults have been targeted by voice-cloning scams. The campaign, started by performer Peter Caulfield and audiobook narrator Alice Sockett, has sent an open letter and petition to Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and points to Denmark's draft Copyright Act amendments as a model for protecting against AI voice cloning.

Around 80 actors and performers are backing a UK campaign against AI voice cloning, and the demand is simple: your voice should not be free raw material for anyone with three seconds of audio. On August 28, 2026, actors including Nicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville, Matt Lucas, Luke Evans, Siobhán McSweeney, Jen Brister and Pearl Mackie backed Save Our Voices Now, a campaign asking Parliament to make voice ownership a statutory right in Britain. The campaign was started by performer Peter Caulfield and audiobook narrator Alice Sockett, and it has been aimed at Prime Minister Andy Burnham with an open letter and a petition on the government's own website. This is not a niche complaint from people with agents and recording booths. It lands on you too. ITV News reported that the campaign says 28% of UK adults have already been targeted by a voice-cloning scam, while nearly half of adults did not know such scams existed. That should worry you. Caulfield put the threat in one sharp line: "In just three seconds, with the right AI system, your voice can be cloned, stolen and reinterpreted without your knowledge." Hugh Bonneville made the same case without the technical language. "My voice is unique, it's mine, it's part of my identity," he said. "So is yours." The Legal Gap Here is the gap the campaign is pointing at. UK copyright law can protect a recording. It does not give you a clear statutory property right over the sound of your own voice, the accent, rhythm and cadence that make other people recognize you before they see your face. That is the gap. Fish Audio raises $52 million to challenge ElevenLabs in the AI voice arms race https://startupfortune.com/fish-audio-raises-52-million-to-challenge-elevenlabs-in-the-ai-voice-arms-race/ Fish Audio, the AI voice startup that grew out of an open-source side project by a former Nvidia researcher, has raised a $52 million seed round and launched its S2.1 Pro voice model as it takes aim at ElevenLabs in the rapidly consolidating AI voice market. - AI voice startup funding rounds 2026 https://startupfortune.com/fish-audio-raises-52-million-to-challenge-elevenlabs-in-the-ai-voice-arms-race/ - competing with ElevenLabs in voice synthesis https://startupfortune.com/fish-audio-raises-52-million-to-challenge-elevenlabs-in-the-ai-voice-arms-race/ For actors and narrators, the problem is professional as well as personal. Their voice is part of the work they sell. If a model can reproduce it without consent or payment, with no clear route to removal, the law is leaving the most valuable part of that work exposed. Frankly, calling that a future risk is too polite. The tools are already here. Save Our Voices Now wants the obligation placed on AI developers and platforms, not dumped on individuals who have to chase cloned audio around the internet one clip at a time. The petition asks for voice ownership to become a statutory right for every UK citizen, with consent required before a voice can be reproduced by AI. Consent comes first. Denmark is the obvious model. The European Commission's IP Helpdesk noted in June 2026 that Denmark had notified draft amendments to its Copyright Act covering realistic digitally generated imitations of a person's appearance or voice, with takedown rights and protection for performers. The European Parliament's research service described the Danish approach as a new way to use copyright law for personality-style rights, while also noting the legal debate around that choice. That nuance matters. The UK does not need to copy every line of the Danish approach, but it does need to stop pretending the old categories are enough. The Industry Is Already Moving Lawyers got there first. Bloomberg Law reported that voice actors Karissa Vacker and Mark Boyett sued ElevenLabs in Delaware in 2024, accusing the company of misappropriating their voices to create synthetic narration that people close to them could recognize. The complaint referred to their "distinctive vocal timbres, accents, intonation, pacing, vocal mannerisms, and speaking styles." That is exactly the thing the UK campaign wants the law to name. ElevenLabs has also moved toward licensing. Its Iconic Marketplace lets companies request access to well-known voices and negotiate with rights holders before using AI-generated audio. Adweek reported when the marketplace launched in November 2025 that it included names such as Michael Caine, Maya Angelou and Alan Turing, with brands dealing directly with talent representatives or estates before deployment. Good. That is how this market has to work if it is going to work at all. Licensed voice tools are not the problem. Taking a person's voice because a model can scrape it, clone it and sell it back into the market is the problem. The UK government has at least acknowledged the harm. The Stage reported that a government spokesperson said digital replicas can help the creative industries, but likenesses copied without permission can be damaging, and that ministers plan to consult on how to address those harms while protecting legitimate innovation. A consultation is better than silence. It is not protection yet. South Korea Picks SKT, KT and Kakao to Build Its Free National AI Chatbot https://startupfortune.com/south-korea-picks-skt-kt-and-kakao-to-build-its-free-national-ai-chatbot/ South Korea's government has chosen SK Telecom, KT and Kakao to run its free "AI for Everyone" chatbot, making it the first G20 nation to offer every citizen unlimited access to a state-backed AI assistant. Every operator must build on certified domestic models, while Naver and Samsung are sitting the project out entirely. A public beta opens in... - south korea free national AI chatbot for citizens https://startupfortune.com/south-korea-picks-skt-kt-and-kakao-to-build-its-free-national-ai-chatbot/ - SK Telecom KT Kakao government backed AI assistant https://startupfortune.com/south-korea-picks-skt-kt-and-kakao-to-build-its-free-national-ai-chatbot/ The campaign has put three facts in front of Burnham's government. Recognizable performers are willing to attach their names to the issue. Denmark has already pushed a serious legal template through the policy process. And voice scams are no longer something that happens only to celebrities. If your bank, your parent or your boss hears your voice asking for money, the question will not be whether the audio sounds convincing. It will be whether the law was written before the scammer called. Also read: Netlist Asks US Customs to Block Micron's AI Memory Chips at the Border https://startupfortune.com/netlist-asks-us-customs-to-block-microns-ai-memory-chips-at-the-border/ • OpenAI, Anthropic and Over 100 Firms Warn AI Cyberattacks Are Months Away https://startupfortune.com/openai-anthropic-and-over-100-firms-warn-ai-cyberattacks-are-months-away/ • AI Loss of Control Incidents Nearly Doubled in July, Observatory Finds https://startupfortune.com/ai-loss-of-control-incidents-nearly-doubled-in-july-observatory-finds/