Longtime NPR host David Greene sues Google over NotebookLM voice

NPR Veteran David Greene Accuses Google of Copying His Voice for AI Podcast Feature

In a striking clash between legacy media and artificial intelligence, David Greene, the longtime host of NPR’s Morning Edition, has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging the tech giant used his distinctive vocal style without permission in its AI-powered podcast tool, NotebookLM. The controversy erupted after Greene’s friends, family, and colleagues began flooding his inbox with messages pointing out an uncanny resemblance between his voice and that of the male AI host featured in Google’s NotebookLM audio overviews.

Greene, whose voice has been a fixture of American public radio for years, described the similarity as unmistakable. “My voice is, like, the most important part of who I am,” he told The Washington Post. He emphasized that the AI voice not only mimicked his cadence and intonation but also replicated his subtle speech patterns, including the frequent use of filler words such as “uh.” For Greene, this wasn’t just an issue of artistic likeness—it was a matter of identity and professional integrity.

Google, for its part, has firmly denied the allegations. A company spokesperson told the Post that the voice in question was based on a paid professional actor hired specifically for the project. “The sound of the male voice in NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews is based on a paid professional actor Google hired,” the spokesperson stated, pushing back on any suggestion of unauthorized replication.

NotebookLM, which Google launched as an AI-powered research and note-taking assistant, includes a feature that generates podcast-style discussions based on user-uploaded documents. The tool has been praised for its ability to create surprisingly natural-sounding conversations, but this lawsuit highlights the legal and ethical gray areas surrounding AI-generated voices.

This isn’t the first time a major tech company has faced backlash over AI voices that sound suspiciously like real people. In a high-profile case last year, OpenAI was compelled to remove a voice option from its ChatGPT service after actress Scarlett Johansson complained that it closely resembled her own. Johansson revealed that OpenAI had even approached her to license her voice before ultimately releasing a similar-sounding alternative without her consent. The incident sparked widespread debate about the rights of individuals—especially public figures—to control the use of their vocal likenesses in AI applications.

Legal experts say Greene’s case could set an important precedent. While copyright law traditionally protects written and recorded works, the question of whether a person’s voice can be copyrighted—or whether its unauthorized use constitutes identity theft—remains largely untested in U.S. courts. Some states, like California, have laws protecting against the use of someone’s likeness for commercial purposes, but these statutes were written long before the rise of AI and may not fully address the nuances of synthetic voice replication.

For Greene, the stakes go beyond legal technicalities. As a seasoned broadcaster, his voice is not just a tool of his trade—it’s an extension of his personal and professional identity. The idea that an AI could replicate it without permission or compensation strikes at the heart of creative ownership in the digital age.

The lawsuit also raises broader questions about transparency in AI development. NotebookLM’s ability to generate realistic conversations has been a key selling point, but if those voices are modeled—even loosely—on real people, users and creators alike deserve to know. As AI tools become more sophisticated and widespread, the line between inspiration and imitation is growing increasingly thin.

Google has not yet commented on the specifics of Greene’s lawsuit, but the case is likely to draw significant attention from both the tech and media industries. With AI-generated content becoming more common across podcasts, audiobooks, and virtual assistants, the outcome could have far-reaching implications for how companies develop and deploy synthetic voices.

For now, Greene’s legal challenge serves as a wake-up call: in a world where machines can mimic human voices with startling accuracy, the question of who owns a voice—and who gets to profit from it—has never been more urgent.

Tags: AI voice replication, Google NotebookLM, David Greene lawsuit, NPR Morning Edition, synthetic voices, Scarlett Johansson OpenAI, voice copyright, AI podcast controversy, tech ethics, digital identity, AI likeness rights

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