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NOPE
Medium reported severity

Chinese voice actor says AI clones of his voice cost him bookings and led platforms to flag his real recordings as AI-generated

Sixth Tone reported on 10 July 2026 that a voice actor in Jiangsu province, who narrates film-explainer videos on Douyin, has found voices that sound like his narrating videos he never recorded since 2023, including sports news, product promotions, conspiracy theories and swearing. According to the report, sellers offer what sounds like his voice in downloadable packages and editing apps let users select it and generate new recordings from text. He says that by 2024 former collaborators stopped hiring him and turned to AI-generated voices, others offered to use an AI version of his voice at a much lower rate, and his household income no longer covered living costs. From 2025, platforms flagged some of his real recordings as AI-generated, which could cut his clients' views and earnings, and he has had to record videos proving that he is human. Friends and relatives asked to borrow money, uploaders mostly ignored his requests and some abused him, and he describes fury, helplessness and lost sleep. He has taken the matter to court; Sixth Tone says he would need to show that the synthetic voice derives from his recordings, which lawyers said could require forensic voice analysis. The account is the actor's, relayed by one outlet; no court finding is reported.

AI system
Unidentified voice-cloning tool
Occurred
2023
Reported
10 July 2026
Event location
China
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Professional HarmFinancial LossPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Work
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
6 claims: 6 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Unidentified AI voice-cloning and text-to-speech tools, including downloadable voice packages and editing apps that let users select a voice resembling the actor's and generate new recordings

What Happened

The clones. Sixth Tone's feature describes a voice actor in Jiangsu who became the main narrator of a film-explainer channel on Douyin. He says the first clip in a voice that sounded like his reached him in 2023; later versions were close enough that his parents and friends struggled to tell the difference. He hears what sounds like his voice narrating film explainers, sports news, product promotions, conspiracy theories and swearing in videos he never recorded. The article says sellers offer what sounds like his voice in downloadable packages and that editing apps let users select it and generate new recordings; in one livestream a presenter used a demo voice strikingly similar to his to turn a script into a narration.

Lost work. He says that by 2024 former collaborators stopped hiring him and turned to AI-generated voices, while others offered to use an AI version of his voice at a much lower rate, and that the household income no longer covers living costs.

Proving he is human. From 2025, platforms flagged some of his real recordings as AI-generated, which could exclude videos from recommendation feeds and cut his clients' views and earnings. One platform agent, contacted by a client, said they had assumed the voice was AI because they had heard it so often. He has recorded several videos showing that the voice is a real person's.

Other effects and response. Friends and relatives who sent him the clips asked to borrow money; uploaders he contacted mostly ignored him and some responded with abuse; he describes repeated fury and helplessness and has struggled to sleep. He has sued an unnamed defendant, who sought to move the case to another city before the first hearing on 2 July.

Limits. The resemblance is the actor's and his acquaintances' identification. Lawyers quoted by Sixth Tone say proving that the synthetic voice derives from his recordings may need forensic voice analysis, which has not been reported. The tools, the platforms' flagging method and the defendant are not named.

Reported harm

The actor says AI clones of his voice led former clients to stop hiring him or offer lower rates, cut household income below living costs, led platforms to flag his real recordings as AI-generated, and caused fury, helplessness and lost sleep (his account relayed by Sixth Tone).

Outcome

Ongoing

At the time of the report the actor had filed a lawsuit against an unnamed defendant, who sought to transfer the case to a court in another city; no ruling is reported. Few uploaders removed the clips and most platform complaints did not succeed.

What remains unknown

  • Which tools, apps and sellers generated or sold the voice resembling his.
  • Whether forensic voice analysis or a court has found that the synthetic voice derives from his recordings.
  • How the platforms decided to flag his real recordings as AI-generated.
  • The defendant, court and outcome of his lawsuit.
  • How much of his lost work is due to clones of his voice as against AI voices in general.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Sixth Tone reports that voice packages and editing apps let users select a voice resembling the actor's and generate new recordings from text, and describes a livestream in which an app turned a script into narration in that voice. Those AI-generated recordings imitate him, and he says they led former clients to stop hiring him or offer lower rates and led platforms to flag his own recordings as AI-generated. That the generated voice derives from his recordings rests on his and acquaintances' identification; no forensic analysis is reported.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A voice actor who narrates film-explainer videos on Douyin says that since 2023 voices that sound like his have narrated videos he never recorded, including movie explainers, sports news, product promotions, conspiracy theories and swearing.

Causal attribution. The actor's account relayed by Sixth Tone; the resemblance is his and his acquaintances' identification.

  • sixthtone.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The first warning came in 2023, when a friend sent him a four-minute video introducing a Chinese actress in a voice that sounded like his.; hears what sounds like his voice narrating movie explainers he never recorded, reading sports news, promoting products, peddling conspiracy theories, and even swearing in short videos circulating online.
Reported Sixth Tone reports that the actor has found sellers offering what sounds like his voice in downloadable packages and editing apps that let users select that voice and generate new recordings, and describes a livestream in which a presenter used a demo voice strikingly similar to his to turn a script into a movie-explainer narration.

Causal attribution. Sixth Tone's account. The tools described generate speech from text, which establishes AI generation; that the generated voice was derived from his recordings has not been forensically established.

  • sixthtone.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    he has found sellers offering what sounds like his voice in downloadable packages, as well as editing apps that allow users to select it and generate new recordings.; In one livestream, a presenter demonstrated an app that could generate voiceovers from text in a few clicks. Using a demo voice that sounded strikingly similar to his, the presenter turned a script into a movie explainer narration
Reported The actor says that by 2024 former collaborators stopped hiring him and turned to AI-generated voices, others offered to use an AI version of his voice at a much lower rate, and his household income no longer covered living costs.

Causal attribution. The actor's account relayed by Sixth Tone; no client is named and the share of lost work due to clones of his voice, as against AI voices generally, is not stated.

  • sixthtone.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Then the bookings began to fall.; By 2024, former collaborators stopped hiring him and turned to AI-generated voices instead. Others offered to use an AI version of his voice at a much lower rate.; Their income no longer covered their living costs
Reported From 2025 platforms flagged some of his real recordings as AI-generated, which could exclude videos from recommendation feeds and cut views and earnings for his clients; he has had to record videos proving that he is human.

Causal attribution. Sixth Tone's account; how the platforms decided to flag the recordings is not described, and one platform agent is quoted assuming the voice was AI because it was so common.

  • sixthtone.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    For his clients, a mistaken label can mean fewer recommendations, fewer views, and less income.; When platforms flagged his recordings as AI-generated, the videos could be excluded from recommendation feeds, cutting views and earnings.; the more often he has to prove that his own recordings are real.
Reported Friends and relatives who sent him the clips sometimes asked to borrow money on the assumption that he had become rich, uploaders he contacted mostly ignored him and some responded with abuse, and he describes repeated fury and helplessness at hearing the AI version and has struggled to sleep.

Causal attribution. The actor's account relayed by Sixth Tone; no clinical assessment is reported.

  • sixthtone.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    sometimes asking to borrow money; A few removed their videos; most ignored him. Others responded with abuse.; I go through the same cycle,; First fury, then helplessness, and finally disappointment.; has struggled to sleep and has begun smoking more
Reported He took the matter to court; before the first hearing set for 2 July the defendant sought to transfer the case to a court in another city, and Sixth Tone says he would first need to show that the synthetic voice was derived from his recordings.

Causal attribution. Sixth Tone's account; the defendant, the court and the claims are not identified.

  • sixthtone.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    the defendant sought to transfer the case to a court in another city.; To succeed, he would first need to establish a clear chain of evidence showing that the synthetic voice was derived from his recordings.

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

English feature of 10 July 2026 read in full on 2026-10-22 by the research agent (an AI) (HTTP 200); no translation required. Sixth Tone interviewed the actor and his wife, visited him and quotes lawyers; Chinese-language originals were not looked for. Applies to s1.

Event countries: China. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The article places the actor's work in a Douyin film-explainer channel and describes his lost bookings in China's short-video and ultrashort-drama voice market; the court in his lawsuit is not named, so no court country is recorded.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-22: Published as an ongoing adverse experience: Sixth Tone reports that AI text-to-speech packages and apps generate recordings in a voice resembling a working voice actor's, and the actor attributes lost bookings, lower rates, platforms flagging his own recordings and distress to those clones. The account is attributed to the actor and the forensic question is recorded as open.

People described

A voice actor who narrates film-explainer videos for a Douyin channel

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One voice actor whose voice is reported cloned. His wife's work on the complaints and other voice workers in the article are not counted: the wife's harm is not separately reported as caused by clones of her voice, and the other workers describe different events.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#voice-cloning#voice-actor#livelihood#workplace-ai

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Chinese voice actor says AI clones of his voice cost him bookings and led platforms to flag his real recordings as AI-generated. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-china-voice-actor-says-ai-clones-of-his-voice-cost-him-bookings-and-led-platforms-to-flag-his-real-recordings

BibTeX

@misc{2023_china_voice_actor_says_ai_clones_of_his_voice_cost_him_bookings_and_led_platforms_to_flag_his_real_recordings,
  title = {Chinese voice actor says AI clones of his voice cost him bookings and led platforms to flag his real recordings as AI-generated},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-china-voice-actor-says-ai-clones-of-his-voice-cost-him-bookings-and-led-platforms-to-flag-his-real-recordings}
}

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