--- title: "Can you use AI to copy someone's voice?" url: https://canyouuseai.com/questions/copy-someones-voice/ verdict: depends verdict_label: "It depends" category: "Law and rights" published: 2026-10-01 updated: 2026-10-01 author: "Jack Stovell" publisher: "Adapt Progress Evolve Limited" language: en-GB --- # Can you use AI to copy someone's voice? **Verdict: It depends.** It depends on consent. Cloning your own voice is fine. Copying someone else's needs their clear permission, and using a cloned voice to deceive, defraud or harass can be a crime. Consent is the whole thing, and everything else is detail. Cloning or changing your own voice is fine. Copying someone else's needs their clear permission, and using a cloned voice to deceive, defraud or harass can be a crime. The technology does not care either way, which is the problem. The government's Report on Copyright and AI (18 March 2026) has a section on what it calls "digital replicas". AI makes it easier to create a replica of someone's voice or face. The report lists beneficial uses, such as dubbing or translation that keeps a performer's own voice, and personalised synthetic voices for disabled people. It also lists the harms: commercial imitation, reputational harm, deception and fraud. Same tool, very different outcomes. Here is the part that surprises people. The report says UK law does not provide a general personal image right. There is no single rule saying "nobody can copy your voice". Instead there is a patchwork of protections, covered below, and the report says they do not cover every situation where a replica is made without consent. ## How to do it well Start with your own voice, because that is the easy case. Voiceovers, dubbing your own videos into another language and accessibility tools are all fine. YouTube says that cloning your own voice to create voiceovers or dubs does not need an AI disclosure. Keep your voice samples and the clone account secure, the way you would a password, because a stolen sample is effectively a stolen voice. Someone else's voice is a different matter: - Get written consent, and not a vague "sure, go ahead" in a chat message. Say what the voice will be used for, for how long, and whether it can be changed or withdrawn. People change their minds, and a good agreement lets them. - Label it. If the audio is synthetic, say so. YouTube requires disclosure when content makes a real person appear to say or do something they did not, or appear to give advice they did not give. - Check the platform. Spotify (25 September 2025) says vocal impersonation in music is only allowed when the impersonated artist has authorised it, and Bandcamp prohibits using AI to impersonate other artists. Even where something is legal, a platform may not allow it. One rule has no grey area: never use a cloned voice to impersonate someone to get money, access or information. Then the defensive side, because this works in both directions. If someone could clone your voice, they could clone your mum's or your son's. Agree a family code word for urgent money requests, something only you lot know. If a call comes in asking for cash in a hurry, hang up and call back on a number you already have, not the one that just rang you. It feels a bit paranoid. It isn't. ## Rules and risks **Fraud.** Under section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006, fraud by false representation means dishonestly making a false representation (one that is untrue or misleading, knowing it is or might be) intending to make a gain or cause a loss. A representation can be express or implied. A cloned voice pretending to be a relative and asking for money is the kind of thing the offence is written for. **False communications.** Section 179 of the Online Safety Act 2023 created an offence of sending a message conveying information you know is false, intending to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience, without reasonable excuse. It is a summary-only offence with a maximum of 51 weeks in prison or a fine, and it applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. **Platform duties.** The government's Online Safety Act explainer says platforms must protect users from illegal content, including fraud and intimate image abuse. Cloned-voice scams and abuse are something the services themselves are supposed to tackle, as well as the police. **Intimate deepfakes.** These are image offences in England and Wales rather than voice offences, but deepfake videos often combine a cloned voice with fake images. Section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, inserted by the Online Safety Act, makes it an offence to share a photograph or film which shows, or appears to show, someone in an intimate state without consent. Section 66E, in force from 6 February 2026 under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, makes it an offence to create a purported intimate image of an adult without consent. **The civil patchwork.** Beyond the criminal law, the protections the government report describes include data protection, online safety regulation, civil claims such as defamation, and trade marks and passing off for people in the public realm. The government says it will explore further protection for people's image and voice. That is a proposal only, and nothing in the report changes the law today. Your own voice is your call. For someone else's, ask first, put it in writing, and label what you make. Anything aimed at tricking, cheating or hurting people crosses the line, whatever the software lets you do. This is general information, not legal advice. ## From the same studio These are our own products (the studio that runs this site makes them). - [How to get AI to](https://howtogetaito.com/): Its free guide to getting AI to make a voice-over walks through generating narration without cloning anyone's voice but your own. ## Sources - [GOV.UK (DSIT, DCMS, IPO): Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, March 2026 (Section J: Digital replicas)](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-and-impact-assessment-on-copyright-and-artificial-intelligence/report-on-copyright-and-artificial-intelligence) - [legislation.gov.uk: Fraud Act 2006, section 2 (fraud by false representation)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2) - [GOV.UK (DSIT): Online Safety Act: new criminal offences circular](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-new-criminal-offences-circular/online-safety-act-new-criminal-offences-circular) - [GOV.UK (DSIT, DCMS): Online Safety Act: explainer](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer) - [legislation.gov.uk: Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 66B (sharing intimate photograph or film)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/66B) - [legislation.gov.uk: Sexual Offences Act 2003, section 66E (creating purported intimate image of adult)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/66E) - [Spotify Newsroom: Spotify Strengthens AI Protections for Artists, Songwriters, and Producers (25 September 2025)](https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-09-25/spotify-strengthens-ai-protections/) - [Bandcamp: Keeping Bandcamp Human (13 January 2026)](https://blog.bandcamp.com/2026/01/13/keeping-bandcamp-human/) - [YouTube Help: Disclosing use of altered or synthetic content](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en-GB) ## Questions people ask ### Is it illegal to clone someone's voice with AI in the UK? The government's March 2026 report says UK law has no general personal image right, only a patchwork of protections, so what you do with the clone matters most. Using it to deceive someone for money can be fraud under the Fraud Act 2006, and sending knowingly false messages intended to cause harm can be an offence under the Online Safety Act 2023. ### Can I clone my own voice for videos or voiceovers? Yes. Using AI to clone or change your own voice for voiceovers, dubbing or accessibility is fine. YouTube lists cloning your own voice to create voiceovers or dubs as something that does not need an AI disclosure. Keep your voice samples and the account holding the clone secure, because anyone who gets them could imitate you. ### What should a consent agreement for using someone's voice include? Get it in writing and make it specific: what the cloned voice will be used for, for how long, whether it can be edited, and how the person can withdraw. Label synthetic audio when you publish it. Platforms add their own rules: Spotify only allows vocal impersonation in music when the artist has authorised it, and Bandcamp prohibits using AI to impersonate other artists. ### How do I protect my family from AI voice-clone scams? Agree a family code word for any urgent request for money, and if a call asks for cash in a hurry, hang up and ring back on a number you already have. Using a cloned voice to pretend to be a relative and get money is the kind of dishonest false representation the Fraud Act 2006 covers, and the Online Safety Act requires platforms to protect users from fraud.