Former NPR Host David Greene Accuses Google Of Stealing His Voice For AI Podcast Tool: 'It's Eerie'

David Greene, a longtime public radio host known for his work on NPR's Morning Edition and KCRW's political podcast Left, Right & Center, has filed a lawsuit against Google for stealing his voice for the male podcaster voice in its AI podcast tool. Filed inn Sata Clara County Superior Court in California, the lawsuit accuses Google of training its NotebookLM Audio Overviews feature on Greene's voice and broadcasting style, including his rhythm, intonation, cadence, filler words like "uh," and other verbal tics.

Greene was made aware of the situation in 2024 when his friends and colleagues started asking him if he had allowed Google to use his voice.

"So...I'm probably the 148th person to ask this, but did you license your voice to Google? It sounds very much like you!" one of Greene's colleagues emailed him, according to a report in the New York Post.

Greene said he was 'completely freaked out' upon hearing the synthetic version of his voice, adding that it was an 'eerie' moment when he first heard himself.

"I'm not some crazy anti-AI activist. It's just been a very weird experience," Greene said, adding: "My voice is, like, the most important part of who I am."

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Google's Statement

Greene's complaint cites an unnamed AI forensic firm that used its software to compare the artificial voice to his voice. The tool gave a confidence rating of 53 to 60 per cent that Greene's voice had been used to train the model.

"I read an article in the Guardian about how this podcast tool can be used to spread conspiracy theories and lend credibility to the nastier stuff in our society," he said. "For something that sounds like me to be used in service of that was really troubling."

Meanwhile, Google, which launched its automated podcast tool in 2024, denied the claims made in the lawsuit.

"These allegations are baseless. The sound of the male voice in NotebookLM's Audio Overviews is based on a paid professional actor Google hired," said Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda.

Greene's attorney, Joshua Michelangelo Stein, said they had "faith in the court" and encouraged people to "listen to the example audio themselves".