Chinese voice actors protest AI voice cloning and call for video takedowns
Multiple Chinese voice actors, including those who voiced characters in the film "Nezha," publicly protested the unauthorized use of their voices to train AI voice-cloning models in mid-March 2026. Content creators responded by removing infringing videos from social media platforms.
What happened
On March 16, 2026, Lü Yanting, the voice actor for the character Nezha in the film series, published a statement denouncing unauthorized collection and use of her voice for AI model training and voice synthesis.
Multiple voice actors including Gu Jiangshan, Yang Tianxiang, Qiao Shiyu, Zhang Fuzheng, Liu Xiaoyu, Sun Lulu, Bian Jiang, Shi Zekun, Zhang Lei, Li Bingxiao, Ma Zhengyang, and Xia Lei subsequently issued statements opposing unauthorized use of their voices in AI applications across video and social media platforms.
Reported impact
Following the voice actors' statements, large numbers of content creators removed AI-generated voice content from short video platforms and issued public apologies, with some creators committing to cease making derivative works using unauthorized AI voices.
Index analysis
Chinese civil law protects natural persons' voice rights by analogy with portrait rights protections under the Civil Code Article 1023. The Generative Artificial Intelligence Service Management Interim Measures requires respect for others' legitimate rights including portrait, reputation, honor, privacy and personal information rights, with the legal standard for infringement being unauthorized public use rather than commercial intent.
Governance controls
Voice actors emphasized that any use of their voices without authorization for AI training, voice synthesis, or content creation constitutes infringement regardless of disclaimers such as 'non-commercial,' 'derivative work,' or 'learning exchange.'
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.