Meta is reportedly offering Hollywood celebrities millions of dollars for the rights to use their voices in upcoming artificial intelligence projects. The tech giant is in talks with high-profile actors including Judi Dench, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, as reported by Bloomberg and The New York Times.
The company aims to use these celebrity voices into its digital assistant called MetaAI, which is accessible across Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and its Ray-Ban smart glasses.
As per the reports, Meta is racing to finalise these deals before its Connect 2024 event in September, where it plans to unveil a suite of new AI-focused products. The proposed contracts would grant Meta the right to use the recorded voices for a fixed period, with the option for renewal.
Negotiations have reportedly been challenging, with actors’ representatives seeking stricter limits on voice usage. The talks are said to involve all of Hollywood’s top talent agencies, underscoring the scale of Meta’s ambitions in this space.
Meta has reportedly increased its AI and related expenses budget for the year to at least $37 billion, up from $30 billion at the start of 2024, highlighting the company’s significant investment in AI technology.
This pursuit of celebrity voices comes amid growing concerns in Hollywood about AI’s impact on the entertainment industry. Last year, actors and writers went on strike, partly over AI-related issues. However, SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, has reportedly reached an agreement with Meta on terms for voice usage, potentially smoothing the path for these deals.
The project follows Meta’s earlier experiment with text-based celebrity chatbots, which has reportedly been discontinued. As the AI race intensifies among tech giants, Meta’s latest move could potentially reshape the landscape of digital assistants and AI-driven content creation.
TOI Tech Desk
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