Federal Judge Allows Voice Actors' Lawsuit Against AI Startup Lovo to Proceed

A federal judge in New York allowed a lawsuit by voice actors Paul Skye Lehrman and Linnea Sage to proceed against AI voice startup Lovo Inc., rejecting most federal copyright and trademark claims but permitting some claims related to breach of contract, publicity rights, and AI training copyright infringement. The actors allege Lovo used their voices without proper consent or compensation, having initially provided voiceover work to anonymous clients on Fiverr under assurances their voices would be used only for research or test scripts. Lehrman and Sage discovered their voice clones were sold commercially by Lovo under different names without their permission. Their attorney hailed the ruling as a significant victory, expressing confidence that a jury will hold AI companies accountable amid a wave of similar lawsuits concerning the unauthorized use of artists' work to train AI models. Lovo has denied the allegations, calling the claims baseless and minimizing the sales of the disputed voice clones. This case highlights growing legal tensions between creative professionals and AI companies over the ethical and legal use of voice data in AI systems.