A voice belongs to its owner

The principle at the center of everything I do is one sentence: a voice belongs to its owner.

Someone’s voice is part of who they are. You recognize the person on the phone before they say their name. Today’s tools can copy that voice — from a few minutes of recording, they can produce speech that sounds convincing. It’s a powerful tool, and I use it. But the power belongs to the owner of the voice, not to me.

So I never clone or imitate a voice without its owner’s knowledge and permission, and I turn down work that asks me to.

What does permission look like in practice? If the video is yours and the voices are your team’s, we’re fine. If someone else speaks in the video, I ask for their written approval. Without permission, I don’t take the job. There’s no “we’ll sort it out later,” and no exceptions.

That’s also why the quote form on the site asks, “Do you have permission to use the voices of the speakers in the video?” — and why the question is mandatory. If the answer is “no” or “not sure,” we can still talk: there may be another way to help, but that way won’t involve using the voice without consent.

I apply the same rule to files. The videos and audio you send me are used only for your project; I don’t publish them anywhere else and I don’t reuse them in other work. After delivery, I delete them if you want.

And on transparency: if I used AI tools on a job, I explain how it was made to anyone who asks. Knowing that is, first of all, the speaker’s right.

The tools will keep getting stronger; every month they produce more convincing voices. My line doesn’t get thinner as they do: a person’s voice is used only with that person’s permission.