AI app uses voices of late actors Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds and more

The deceased Hollywood icons Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds and Laurence Olivier are brought back to life – at least their voices.

ElevenLabs, an AI audio company, announced on Tuesday the launch of Iconic voices on its newly released Reader app, where consumers can have books, articles and essays read to them by one of these voices if they so choose, all thanks to partnerships with the estates of said stars.

Liza Minnelli, Garland’s daughter and representative of her estate, said in a statement: “It is exciting to see our mother’s voice available to the countless millions of people who love her. Our family believes ElevenLabs’ spectacular new technology will bring new fans to Mama and will be exciting for those who already appreciate the unparalleled legacy that Mama has left and continues to leave to the world.”

These voices are the first from ElevenLabs’ Iconic voices at launch, with more voices to be added in the coming months. The company notes that the voices are “available exclusively through the ElevenLabs Reader app,” meaning they “are not part of the larger ElevenLabs voice library and are limited in how they can narrate. The audio produced with these voices is intended for individual streaming use and not for creating content intended for sharing.”

“Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds and Sir Laurence Olivier are among the most iconic actors in history. We deeply respect their legacies and are honored to have their voices on our platform,” said Dustin Blank, Head of Partnerships at ElevenLabs. “Adding them to our growing roster of voice artists is a huge step forward in our mission to make content accessible in any language and with any voice.”

The app is free to download and use for the first three months. It is currently only available in select countries for iOS, but once multilingual support is available, the company says it will be made available globally and on Android in the coming weeks.

The potential use of celebrity voices for AI has been a hot topic in recent months. In May, Scarlett Johansson made headlines when she accused technology company OpenAI of using a voice “eerily similar” to her own in the latest version of its ChatGPT bot, after Johansson explicitly declined to lend her voice to the system. She said that was a move that “shocked” her and “forced” her to hire legal counsel to clarify the matter. Johansson called for new laws to address issues of AI technology and individual rights. The company denied that the voice in question, named Sky, was intended to resemble Johansson.

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The use of AI in the entertainment industry was also a controversial topic when the SAG-AFTRA union negotiated with Hollywood studios during their long strike in 2023. The actors’ union secured “consent and compensation requirements” for the use of AI; studios must obtain an actor’s informed consent before creating or using a digital replica of a performer, from A-list celebrities to extras.