David Greene, a public radio veteran, never heard of NotebookLM until a former colleague emailed him to ask if he’d lent his voice. The Google AI tool produces podcasts on demand using artificial voices that are uncannily similar to real people’s voices.
Greene felt freaked out when listening to the virtual co-hosts engage in light banter. He said the male voice sounded just like him, from cadence and intonation to occasional “uhhs” and “likes.” His wife’s eyes popped when he played it for her.
Greene is now suing Google, alleging that the company violated his rights by building a product that replicated his voice without payment or permission. The case raises questions of copyright and ownership as language models trained on vast libraries of writing and speech use real humans’ words and voices without consent.
Greene’s lawsuit is one of several cases pitting individual human creators against AI companies promising to transform the economy. The case may determine whether ordinary people assume Greene’s voice is his based on the similarity in the AI-generated podcast, affecting his reputation or opportunities to capitalize on it.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/15/david-greene-google-ai-podcast