Since February, a YouTube channel has been broadcasting audio books with the voice of Jacques Frantz, duplicate deceased in 2021. This voice created by artificial intelligence and its use, have shocked those around it. The family asked for the deletion of videos from the platform without success.
But how far will AI stop? Since February, the YouTube channel Crime time Publish audios books told by a certain Jean Frantz. The narrator’s voice seems to be that of Jacques Frantz, doubler of Robert de Niro in around sixty films, like Once upon a time in America or Casino. But problem: Jacques Frantz died in 2021 and his voice is actually reproduced by artificial intelligence. The slightly robotic tone narrates the novels of Agatha Christie or George Simenon. And this recipe seems to work, since Crime time To date, accumulates several hundred thousand views. “It is extremely violent to hear dad’s voice, who died four years ago, protested from the Parisian the daughter of the doubler Marjorie Frantz, hearing her slutty work is disrespectful and sordid ”.
The agent of the late actor, Charles Neuville, is also in shock: “We harm Jacques Frantz’s inheritance and play with his soul […] What these people have done is very serious. »» Monday, March 18, the family reported the facts with Youtube and claimed the deletion of videos. But the platform’s response was as fast as it is disappointing. The next day, Youtube asked for additional supporting documents in order to be able to study the case closely. In the meantime, the chain Crime timecontinues to broadcast, every day new videos reviewed and corrected by AI.
Artificial intelligence, a threat to dubbers
In addition to creating ethical problems, the use of artificial intelligence reveals a legal flaw: “The problem that we have is that the voice of the dead is no longer legally protected, because it constitutes an attribute of the personality which disappears at the time of death” explains lawyer Joachim Elkaim to Parisian.
Despite this “legal vacuum” the creator of the YouTube channel Crime time would not be safe from justice “The heirs and beneficiaries can file a complaint if they consider that there is an affecting the memory of this person, specifies the lawyer. One could consider that making this J. Funtz, in a robotic way, of the texts of Agatha Christie can undermine memory and (to) the integrity of the artist ”.
This is not the first time that the voice of an artist has been taken up or modified by artificial intelligence. In January, the Minister of Equality between Women and Men Aurore Bergé, should have intervened to prohibit the reuse of the voice of her father Alain Dorval in the film Armor. The actor, who died in February 2024, was known to be the recurring doubler of Sylvester Stallone. In order to alert public opinion to the dangers of AI, actors specializing in French voices of series, films or video games launched the movement “Do not touch my VF”. According to BFM TVthey are already claiming the introduction of new clauses in their contracts. It is time because in the medium term, even in the short term, is more than 15,000 jobs of doublers that could be threatened.