Liza Minnelli Authorizes AI Startup to Recreate Judy Garland's Voice
Liza Minnelli Authorizes AI Startup to Recreate Judy Garland's Voice for Reader App
Actress and singer Liza Minnelli has given the green light to AI startup ElevenLabs to replicate her late mother, Judy Garland's, voice for their innovative Reader App. This move brings Garland into the realm of iconic voices such as James Dean and Burt Reynolds, already part of ElevenLabs' "Iconic voice collection." These AI voices, exclusively available on the Reader App, are intended for narrating e-books and other textual content. Liza Minnelli, representing the Garland Estate, expressed enthusiasm about the possibility of introducing her mother's voice to new audiences while continuing to delight existing fans.
ElevenLabs rolled out its Reader App in late June, offering users the ability to experience text-to-speech conversions on their mobile devices, encompassing messages, PDFs, and news articles. The app is currently accessible in English for iOS users in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, with plans for expansion to Android and support for multiple languages in the near future. A promotional video on YouTube presents a snippet of Garland reading from "The Wizard of Oz," providing a glimpse into the technology's capabilities.
Key Takeaways
- Liza Minnelli has granted ElevenLabs permission to clone Judy Garland's voice for a new AI app.
- Judy Garland's AI voice joins the ranks of other deceased stars in ElevenLabs' Iconic voice collection.
- Users can utilize these AI voices for narrating e-books and other textual content.
- ElevenLabs' Reader App is currently accessible in English for iOS users in the US, UK, and Canada.
- The app is poised to launch on Android and expand to support multiple languages in the near future.
Analysis
The approval of Judy Garland's AI voice by Liza Minnelli through ElevenLabs could have a substantial impact on the entertainment and tech industries. Immediate beneficiaries include ElevenLabs, which gains a competitive edge in the AI voice market, and the Garland Estate, potentially boosting revenue from new licensing opportunities. Indirectly, this move has the potential to inspire other estates to explore similar ventures, reshaping how the legacies of deceased celebrities are managed and monetized. In the short term, this novelty might drive app downloads and media attention, while in the long term, broader language support and platform expansion could solidify ElevenLabs' market position and cultural influence.
Did You Know?
- AI Voice Cloning:
- AI voice cloning entails using artificial intelligence to replicate the voice of a specific individual. This process often involves deep learning algorithms that analyze and model the unique vocal characteristics of a person, enabling the AI to generate speech that closely resembles the original speaker.
- ElevenLabs' Iconic Voice Collection:
- The Iconic Voice Collection by ElevenLabs comprises a meticulously curated set of AI-generated voices of renowned personalities, both living and deceased. These voices are engineered for various uses, such as narrating e-books or other textual content, delivering a distinctive and personalized user experience.
- Text-to-Speech (TTS) Conversion:
- Text-to-Speech (TTS) conversion is a technology that transforms written text into spoken words. This technology leverages natural language processing and speech synthesis to produce human-like speech from text inputs. TTS is widely employed in applications like audiobooks, assistive technologies, and now, in ElevenLabs' Reader App for narrating various types of textual content.