Seoul Metro AI Voice Plan Used Voice Actor's Voice Without Consent

What happened

Seoul Metro reportedly planned to use generative AI text-to-speech technology to replace voice actor Hee-sun Kang's recorded announcements for Seoul subway stations. The plan reportedly involved training an AI model on Kang's voice recordings without her consent.

Kang, who had provided the voice for station announcements for 29 years and is known for voice acting in the animation 'Crayon Shin-chan', is currently undergoing cancer treatment and has suspended voice acting work.

Reported impact

The Korean Voice Actors Association, along with the Korea Broadcast Actors Labor Union and the Korea Broadcasting Performance Rights Association, issued a joint statement calling the plan an 'illegal act' under copyright law and ethically reprehensible.

The association stated the plan caused irreversible psychological harm to the voice actor and demanded a formal apology from Seoul Metro.

Index analysis

The plan raised concerns about the use of personal voice data without consent for AI training. The voice actor's voice, developed over a 29-year career, would be reproduced synthetically to replace her ongoing role.

Governance controls

Seoul Metro stated in a response that it had not decided to adopt the AI text-to-speech plan and that AI adoption was merely one option under review for contingencies if recording with the existing voice actor was not possible.

Classification

Organizations

Seoul Metro (subject), Hee-sun Kang (victim), Korean Voice Actors Association (mentioned)

Category

Intellectual property and appropriation

Industry

Mobility and autonomous vehicles

Country

South Korea

Harm status

Potential harm

Intent

Unknown

Timing

Pre-deployment

Harm types

Economic or property, Human or fundamental rights

Harmed

Workers

Failure modes

Training data misuse

Consequences

None recorded

AI systems

AI text-to-speech system

Sources and evidence