Morgan Freeman has slammed the rising use of AI-generated voice clones, warning that creators are “robbing” working actors. The Oscar-winning actor said he is frustrated by AI systems replicating his distinctive voice without consent.
In a recent interview, Freeman said that cloned performances are now appearing in projects he has no connection to and said the practice is eroding both artistic integrity and livelihoods.
“I'm a little PO'd, you know. I'm like any other actor: Don't mimic me with falseness. I don't appreciate it, and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you're gonna do it without me, you're robbing me,” he told The Guardian. He suggested the problem is widespread, adding, “Well, I tell you, my lawyers have been very, very busy”.
Freeman further said that his trademark narration style was the product of deliberate training, crediting his community-college professor, Robert Whitman, for shaping his technique. “If you're going to speak, speak distinctly, hit your final consonants, and do exercises to lower your voice,” he recalled.
Freeman also addressed the controversy surrounding Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated performer whose potential representation by agencies triggered backlash across Hollywood.
“Nobody likes her because she is not real and that takes the part of a real person, so it is not going to work out very well in the movies or on television,” he said, adding that tension with the union is inevitable. “The union's job is to keep actors acting, so there's going to be that conflict”.
SAG-AFTRA later issued a forceful statement clarifying its stance. “To be clear, 'Tilly Norwood' is not an actor, it is a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers – without permission or compensation,” the union said.
It argued that such creations “have no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we've seen, audiences aren't interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience”.