Gary Furlong, a Texas-based audiobook narrator, had worried for a while that synthetic voices created by algorithms could steal work from artists like himself. Early this month, he felt his worst fears had been realized.
Furlong was among the narrators and authors who became outraged after learning of a clause in contracts between authors and leading audiobook distributor Findaway Voices, which gave Apple the right to “use audiobooks files for machine learning training and models.” Findaway was acquired by Spotify last June.
Some authors and narrators say they were not clearly informed about the clause and feared it may have allowed their work or voices to contribute to Apple’s development of synthetic voices for audiobooks. Apple launched its first books narrated by algorithms last month. “It was very disheartening,” says Furlong, who has narrated over 300 audiobooks and is one of more than a dozen narrators and authors who told WIRED of their concerns with Findaway’s agreement. “It feels like a violation to have our voices being used to train something for which the purpose is to take our place,” says Andy Garcia-Ruse, a narrator from Kansas City.
The dispute led to a reversal this week from Apple and Findaway, according to labor union SAG-AFTRA, which represents recording artists as well as actors and other creatives. An email to members seen by WIRED said that the two companies had agreed to immediately stop all “use of files for machine learning purposes” for union members affected and that the halt covers “all files dating back to the beginning of this practice.”
Jane Love, SAG-AFTRA’s national director for audiobooks, confirmed that Apple’s access to files from Findaway had been halted. She says the union is still “working with Findaway toward a solution that recognizes the union’s concerns” such as, “safe storage of the recordings and data, usage limitations, and appropriate compensation.”
Spotify declined to comment on changes made by Findaway or whether making SAG-AFTRA members’ content off-limits to Apple could be unfair to authors and narrators who are not part of the union. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
After Furlong first learned of Apple’s algorithms being written into Findaway agreements early this month, he contacted Isobel Starling, an author he’d worked with who distributed titles with the company. She was shocked to find a clause titled “Machine Learning” near the bottom of her lengthy agreement with Findaway.
Starling says the company had not specifically informed her about that part of the agreement, nor compensated her for it. She believes she missed it because it was buried beneath more conventional sections prohibiting hate speech and sexually explicit material. Although Furlong narrated the audiobook and his voice would potentially be ingested by Apple’s machine learning algorithms, he was not party to the agreement that was signed by Starling as the book’s rights holder.
Findaway’s machine learning clause says rights holders can revoke that part of the agreement. Starling raced to email the platform to say she’d like to exercise that right, and soon received a response saying that the company had submitted her opt-out request to Apple. Furlong says Findaway has not responded to an emailed request to withdraw all copies of his voice from Apple’s servers.