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

The family of Paul Vaughan, the former BBC broadcaster and narrator of Paddington Bear audiobooks, has accused Royal Mail of using artificial intelligence to recreate his voice in a Christmas advertisement. Vaughan, who died in November 2014 at the age of 89, was also known for narrating BBC science series "Horizon" and the nuclear drama "Threads."

His daughter, Lucy Wynne, expressed shock after hearing a voice in a Royal Mail advert aired last Christmas that sounded distinctly like her father. The campaign, with the slogan "So much more than just a card," was overseen by the advertising agency Darwin & The Machines. Wynne stated that her father had no connection to Royal Mail and believes his voice was manipulated without the family's consent.

"It's outrageous," Wynne said. "He could have died two weeks ago, for all they knew. They have not bothered to do their background searches to figure out who this voice is." She added that her father would have disapproved of AI replacing human voiceover artists, advocating instead for "Pay the money and get somebody in to do the job."

A spokesperson for Royal Mail acknowledged that the voiceover was AI-generated, stating that such practices are "increasingly common." However, the company also said the advertisement was "not designed to replicate any specific individual" and that its production partners had conducted checks that "did not identify any resemblance concerns."

Vincent Hughes, a professor of forensic speech science at the University of York, told Deadline that there is "considerable phonetic similarity" between the voice in the advertisement and Vaughan's. He noted overlaps in pronunciation patterns and overall voice quality. An obituary for Vaughan in The Telegraph in 2014 remarked, "When God speaks, he uses Paul Vaughan’s voice."

Vaughan's extensive broadcasting career included narrating "Horizon" from 1968 to 1995 and the Radio 4 arts program "Kaleidoscope" between 1973 and 1998. He also lent his voice to notable adverts, including the mobile phone network Orange's "The future's bright, the future's Orange" and Tesco's "Every little helps." He narrated audiobooks of the Paddington Bear stories for HarperCollins.

Reports indicate that Darwin & The Machines subcontracted the production of the Royal Mail advert to Fameplay, a Czech firm funded by Czech Media Invest. Czech Media Invest is chaired by Daniel Kretinsky, who is the majority shareholder of West Ham United, and his EP Group owns Royal Mail.

Darwin & The Machines and Czech Media Invest have been approached for comment.