An NPR host described how he was “completely freaked out” to hear his own voice being used in an artificial intelligence tool without his knowledge or consent.
David Greene, who formerly hosted NPR’s “Morning Edition” and now co-hosts KCRW’s podcast “Left, Right & Center,” filed a lawsuit against Google last month after the tech giant’s AI tool, NotebookLM, seemed to replicate his voice with a virtual podcast host.
“I was, like, completely freaked out,” Greene told The Washington Post. “It’s this eerie moment where you feel like you’re listening to yourself.”
“My voice is, like, the most important part of who I am,” Greene said, noting that even colleagues reaching out in messages were convinced it was him as the AI-generated voice mimicked his cadence and intonation.
“Now he’s suing Google, alleging that it violated his rights by building a product that replicated his voice without payment or permission, giving users the power to make it say things Greene would never say,” the Washington Post reported.
The legal hurdle for David Greene is going to be massive.
Bcz he has to prove Google specifically used his NPR archives to train that voice.
Google will likely argue it’s just a generic professional male voice that happens to sound like a news anchor.
Unless there’s a paper…— ArtStudio🫡 (@NFTartstudiomax) February 15, 2026
“Google told The Washington Post in a statement on Thursday that NotebookLM’s male podcast voice has nothing to do with Greene. Now, a Santa Clara County, California, court may be asked to determine whether the resemblance is uncanny enough that ordinary people hearing the voice would assume it’s his — and if so, what to do about it,” the report continued.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda told the outlet that the “allegations are baseless.”
“The sound of the male voice in NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews is based on a paid professional actor Google hired,” he said.
“We have faith in the court and encourage people to listen to the example audio themselves,” said Greene’s lawyer, Joshua Michelangelo Stein.
Cornell University professor James Grimmelmann told the outlet that issues being raised in Greene’s lawsuit are “going to come up a lot.”
“A key question for the courts to decide, Grimmelmann said, will be just how closely an AI voice or likeness has to resemble the genuine article in order to count as infringing. Another will be whether Greene’s voice is famous enough for ordinary people to recognize it when they listen to NotebookLM and whether he’s harmed by the resemblance,” WaPo reported.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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