McConaughey and Caine give their voices to the AI

Luca Fontana

14/11/2025

Translation: machine translated

First the AI actress Tilly Norwood caused outrage, now Hollywood itself is following suit: Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine are licensing their voices to an AI. This is the start of a new debate about creativity and control.

Hollywood voices are becoming immortal - or at least digital. Matthew McConaughey and Sir Michael Caine have officially agreed to allow their voices to live on as AI clones. This is made possible by the US company ElevenLabs, which is currently in the process of building a veritable voice metaverse, as they show in an impressive video with an AI-generated voice.

Both actors have signed a deal with the New York-based company. McConaughey goes even further: he invests in ElevenLabs and uses the technology himself. His audio newsletter «Lyrics of Livin'» will soon be published in Spanish - with his own voice, of course, but generated by AI.

Caine, in turn, will be part of the so-called Iconic Voice Marketplace. This is a platform on which production companies or creatives can acquire the licence to use his voice for their own projects, such as audio books or documentaries. This not only causes frowns in Hollywood, but also in our current episode of the Tech-Telmechtel podcast from minute 31:26:

«Innovation should not replace humanity - but celebrate it»

This is how Caine himself describes the idea behind his deal. The 92-year-old says ElevenLabs enables «voices to be preserved and shared, not to replace them, but to celebrate them». McConaughey sounds similarly enthusiastic: AI should help to make stories «accessible in more languages and for more people».

ElevenLabs is deliberately positioning itself as the antithesis of those companies that simply tap and replicate voices from the internet without consent, control or compensation. The new licence model aims to change this: Only those who voluntarily release their voice will be listed in the Marketplace. In addition to Caine, legendary personalities such as Judy Garland, John Wayne and Alan Turing are already represented there.

From Tilly Norwood to ElevenLabs - same debate, different side

At the beginning of October, the presentation of the first AI actress Tilly Norwood at the Zurich Film Festival caused global outrage. At the time, Hollywood accused Dutch entrepreneur Eline van der Velden, Norwood's creator, of replacing real actresses. Now the story continues, but with one crucial difference: instead of «stolen» voices, it's about licensed ones.

But the question remains the same: where does the innovation end and where does the sale of creativity begin when even acting legends like Michael Caine have their voices cloned?

The idea sounds ethically sound - and yet there is still a bitter aftertaste. Because while some stars are now working on their own digital immortality in a controlled manner, many dubbing actors and up-and-coming talent fear for their future. Why hire someone new when you can get the voice of a global star for a few dollars?

What remains: a new era begins

In the USA, this is exactly what people have been arguing about for months. Under the motto «Consent, Compensation, Control», trade unions such as SAG-AFTRA have been demanding clear rules - louder than ever since the Tilly Norwood outcry: Consent, fair pay and control over one's voice. ElevenLabs' model fulfils these points. Nobody can deny that and go on strike again because of it.

Whether this really «celebrates humanity», as Caine says, or whether it is just the beginning of the end of real voices, remains to be seen. One thing is certain: AI has long been talking to - and now also with - the voice of Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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