Actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine partner with AI startup ElevenLabs, licensing their voices as debate on generative AI deepens.
McConaughey, Caine License Voices to AI Firm as Industry Divide Widens
Major Actors Join AI Voice Marketplace
Hollywood veterans Matthew McConaughey and Sir Michael Caine have formally licensed their voices to ElevenLabs, marking another high-profile shift as generative AI expands deeper into entertainment. The company, launched in 2022, specializes in creating synthetic voices for ads, content production, and digital storytelling.
McConaughey, an investor in the startup, will allow ElevenLabs to reproduce his voice to translate his newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’, into Spanish. Caine has licensed his voice for use on the firm’s Iconic Marketplace and its ElevenReader text-to-audio app.
Why Celebrities Are Embracing AI Voice Deals
In announcing the partnership, Caine framed the technology as an evolution rather than a replacement.
“It’s not about replacing voices; it’s about amplifying them,” he said. “I’ve spent a lifetime telling stories. ElevenLabs will help the next generation tell theirs.”
ElevenLabs already features synthetic versions of notable voices, created in collaboration with living actors or through historical recordings, including Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel, Maya Angelou, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
The company promotes its model as a “performer-first” approach, emphasizing consent, compensation, and creative control — a narrative the industry has been demanding as AI adoption accelerates.
Growing Friction Between Actors and AI Developers
The deals land at a time when performers’ unions are sounding alarms over the unchecked rise of synthetic talent. SAG-AFTRA has repeatedly warned that generative AI could dilute employment opportunities and undermine artistic integrity.
The union condemned the creation of a fully synthetic AI actress, Tilly Norwood, stating that “creativity should remain human-centered.” The criticism echoed global concerns from acting guilds that fear AI could enable studios to bypass human performers entirely.
Studios and Streaming Giants Move Ahead Anyway
Despite resistance, major entertainment companies continue to deepen their AI investments.
Netflix has said it is “all in” on deploying AI to improve content recommendations, advertising, and production workflows.
Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl recently argued that AI can expand creativity and unlock new business models, even as AI-generated music competes with human artists.
The momentum follows the release of OpenAI’s Sora 2 text-to-video model, which triggered global concerns around deepfakes, misinformation, and privacy breaches involving celebrity likenesses.
Real-World Consequences for Performers
Some actors are already experiencing the darker side of AI likeness licensing.
After licensing his image to TikTok, actor Scott Jacqmein told The New York Times he later found his synthetic likeness promoting products he never approved — and received no additional compensation.
Other performers report being locked into long-term AI contracts with low upfront payment but high reputational risk, including appearing in campaigns linked to propaganda and political messaging.
A Divided Creative Landscape
As Hollywood negotiates its relationship with generative AI, artistic leaders remain split.
Mad Max director George Miller called AI “a dynamically evolving tool” and argued it will permanently reshape filmmaking.
In contrast, icons such as Hayao Miyazaki, Werner Herzog, and Guillermo del Toro have sharply rejected AI-generated content, with del Toro telling NPR he would “rather die” than use it in his work.
A Future Driven by Choice and Consequence
With McConaughey and Caine joining the wave of actors licensing their voices, the entertainment industry enters a new phase — one defined by innovation, ethical uncertainty, and competing visions for the future.
