Aoni Production Agency, CoeFont Collaborate on AI-Replicated Voice Service Trained on Voice Actors
Talent management agency Aoni Production and AI voice platform CoeFont announced a new partnership on Monday. The first project under the partnership uses vocal data from 10 voice actors, including Masako Nozawa and Banjō Ginga, to create AI-replicated voices for use in virtual assistants (such as Alexa and Google Assistant), medical devices, robots, and voice-assisted navigation.
The AI-replicated voices will be available in multiple languages, beginning with English and Chinese.
The new project acknowledges the potential threat to performerrs’ rights and livelihoods posed by the use of generative AI, and promises that it will not use the voice training data for performances in animation, dubs, or similar works.
Sony Music Entertainment previously launched the YOMIBITO Plus audiobook app in March 2023, which used synthesized voices from CoeFont. The app features classic works of Japanese literature read by synthesized voices of three notable voice actors, including late voice actor Kenji Utsumi, Shūichirō Umeda, and Katsuyuki Konishi.