Sir David Attenborough’s voice is widely recognized—perhaps even more than his physical presence—but is it truly his?

Recently, Sir David Attenborough expressed his concerns about an artificial intelligence imitation of his voice featured in a BBC segment on Sunday. The program compared his actual voice to an AI-generated version discovered online, which sounded alarmingly similar. While the specific website offering these imitations was not disclosed, BBC presenter Kasia Madera highlighted that several sites provide Attenborough impersonations.

In a statement to the outlet, Attenborough remarked, “After dedicating my life to speaking what I believe to be the truth, I am deeply troubled to see that others are stealing my identity and using it to express whatever ideas they want.”

In a response clip aired by the BBC, the AI version of Attenborough stated, in a voice resembling his, “Let’s clarify things. Unless Mr. Attenborough has secretly worked for us under a false identity with authorization in the United States, he is not affiliated with us. I am not David Attenborough. While we both share a similar male British voice, I am not him, in case anyone is wondering.”

This situation highlights a growing trend of side-by-side comparisons that reveal how convincingly AI can mimic real voices, sparking concerns among consumers. James O’Brien, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, previously mentioned to YSL News, “I am very confident in stating that over time, it will be almost impossible to discern between a generated image and a real one.”

Within the entertainment industry, where Attenborough is renowned as a documentary narrator, AI poses significant challenges. Last year, actor Tom Hanks warned his fans about a company using an AI version of his voice for a dental plan promotion. Concerns about AI were also central to the discussions when Hollywood actors and writers went on strike last summer.

In May, Scarlett Johansson confronted AI CEO Sam Altman regarding his company OpenAI, claiming that its ChatGPT product had replicated her voice without permission. At the time, Johansson stated that Altman had approached her to provide her voice for the AI but that she had declined, yet her voice was still copied.

In October, over 10,000 individuals from creative sectors, including Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon, signed a brief open letter protesting the unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI, labeling it a significant and unjust threat to their livelihoods.