Royal Mail Accused of Using AI to Recreate Deceased Narrator's Voice

The Royal Mail is facing accusations from the family of late BBC broadcaster Paul Vaughan that the company used artificial intelligence to recreate his distinctive voice for a Christmas advertisement. Vaughan, who died in November 2014 at the age of 89, was the beloved narrator for the Paddington Bear audiobooks and hosted the BBC science series Horizon for nearly three decades.

His daughter, Lucy Wynne, stated she was shocked to hear a voice that sounded precisely like her father's in a Royal Mail commercial aired last Christmas. The advertisement, promoting the slogan 'So much more than just a card,' was created by advertising agency Darwin & The Machines. Wynne expressed outrage, asserting that her father had not worked for Royal Mail and that his voice had been manipulated without the family's consent. She questioned the ethical implications, noting her father could have been in ill health or passed away recently, and emphasized his potential disapproval of AI displacing human voice actors.

Royal Mail has responded by stating that the advertisement featured real actors and that the voiceover was AI-generated, a practice they described as 'increasingly common.' The company also claimed they were advised the AI was created using prompts and was not designed to replicate any specific individual. Furthermore, Royal Mail stated that their production partners conducted checks which did not identify any resemblance concerns.

Vincent Hughes, a professor of forensic speech science at the University of York, has noted "considerable phonetic similarity" between the voice in the advertisement and Paul Vaughan's, citing overlaps in segmental patterns and overall voice quality. Vaughan was a prominent figure in British broadcasting, known for his authoritative tone on Horizon (1968-1995) and the Radio 4 arts program Kaleidoscope (1973-1998). His commercial work also included iconic campaigns for Orange mobile network and Tesco.

The production of the Royal Mail advertisement was reportedly subcontracted to Fameplay, a Czech firm funded by Czech Media Invest. This company is chaired by Daniel Kretinsky, who is also the majority shareholder of West Ham United. Kretinsky's EP Group also owns Royal Mail. Darwin & The Machines and Czech Media Invest have been approached for comment.