Everything from smart speakers to your favorite chatbot may soon sound awfully familiar, and Meta is reportedly reaching out to celebrities to have their voices provided for future AI projects

Our sister site Tech Radar reports that the social media giant is offering millions of dollars to various celebrities in exchange for the right to use their voices to train AI voice clones These include the names of Awkwafina, Judi Dench, and Keegan-Michael Kay

These voices will be used in the digital assistant product MetaAI, the New York Times reports Reportedly, Meta is in negotiations with many of Hollywood's major talent agencies

As of this writing, it is unknown how many celebrities are being considered for the project or who might actually sign on Sources told the Times that Meta could pay millions of dollars in fees to actors who are selected to appear in the film

The Screen Actors Guild just last year went on strike against Hollywood studios over a number of issues, including protection against AI labor and AI likeness rights Nevertheless, there are reports from unnamed sources that SAG-AFTRA has reached an agreement on terms with Meta

Bloomberg reports that Meta is trying to secure celebrity voices before its Connect 2024 event in September

What the company hopes to do with the voice rights is unclear at this time

Last year, Meta introduced AI characters based on celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, and Paris Hilton Snoop Dogg lent his face to the AI characters as DND's dungeon master and soccer star Sam Kerr as his calm, free-spirited friend These chatbots were text-only, and celebrity faces were subsequently no longer used

AI and actor voices are not without controversy Earlier this year, OpenAI revealed that it had given GPT-4o the option of a dubious Scarlett Johansson-like voice This voice was removed after Johansson attempted to take legal action against the AI company

And as of this writing, SAG-AFTRA is on strike specifically against the video game company over disagreements about worker protections involving AI The union is seeking protections for both voice actors and motion capture performers