BBC defends AI voiceover decision following controversy

Source: BBC

The BBC has defended a decision to use AI voiceover in place of the voice of Mamma Mia! stage performance star Sara Poyzer that sparked controversy on social media over the Easter holiday.

Poyzer, who had reportedly been hired to provide a voiceover for a forthcoming production, took to social media when the production company working for the pubcaster sent her an email telling her she was no longer required because they had secured approval to use an AI-generated voice.

Poyzer’s subsequent Tweet was widely viewed and prompted a spate of critical comments, including from other performers, some of whom drew comparisons with the issued that prompted the actors’ strike last year in the US.

Unable to speak

The BBC defended the decision, stating that the production in question featured a contribution from someone nearing the end of life who was unable to speak.

““We are making a highly sensitive documentary which features a contributor who is nearing the end of life and is now unable to speak. We have been working closely with their family to explore how we might best represent the contributor’s voice at the end of the film when words they have written are read out,” a BBC spokesperson said.

“In these very particular circumstances and with the family’s wishes in mind we have agreed to use AI for a brief section to recreate a voice which can now no longer be heard. This will be clearly labelled within the film.”

The case emerged after BBC director-general Tim Davie made a speech on the future of the BBC in which he said the pubcaster would “proactively deploy AI on our terms, always holding on to our published principles”, meaning that it would do so in way “never compromising human creative control, supporting rights holders and sustaining our editorial standards, but proactively launching tools that help us build relevance”.

Davie said the corporation was “working with a number of major tech companies on BBC-specific pilots which we will be deploying the most promising ones in coming months”.