Boss clones employee's voice with text-to-speech software, then creates a recording of them saying positive things about the job, employee reports her: ‘I was NOT okay with it’

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  • My boss cloned my voice using a text-to-speech software and used it to put words in my mouth.

    We have an in office "team development" day tomorrow and my bosses' new boss and his boss are joining in.
  • Woman uses voice to text software
  • My bosses clearly want to make a good impression. They asked us all to make a short video of what we're proud of from the last year, or give someone a shoutout, etc.
  • My boss said it wasn't mandatory, so I decided not to do it. And then today she asked me if I was going to do it, and I said I'd prioritized the work I'd been assigned to prepare for tomorrow.
  • She said there was still time today. I said I didn't have capacity today. Then she said "just write a short paragraph of what you're proud of, you've done amazing work this year" so I broke down and wrote two sentences basically saying "2025 was a year of [project].
  • I'm grateful I got the opportunity to work on so much [stuff I like] and was able to develop my [skills]." I sent it to her and asked "is that okay?" And she said yes.
  • And then this afternoon right before my day ended she messaged me saying she'd cloned my voice using the text-to- speech software and used it to add a voiceover to my words.
  • I asked her what she meant, and she said she uploaded a recording of me delivering a training session and the software analyzed and cloned my voice based on the recording.
  • I was speechless and asked "does it actually sound like me?" and she sent me the video clip.
  • In addition to the words I wrote, she added "I'm excited to [use the skills I developed to support the team in 2026!]".
  • I didn't write that. But my cloned voice said it. I feel so incredibly violated. I told her I was NOT okay with it and asked her to remove the voiceover and delete my voice from the text-to- speech software.
  • I shut my laptop and tried to regulate myself but I am fucking reeling. I reported it to my bosses' new boss who is coming tomorrow.
  • We will see what happens. I did save screenshots of my boss admitting what she did to my personal phone, and saved the video she created using my voice (with the added words).
  • Female Boss Sitting on Her Office
  • Chaghatai Is it that simple for someone to clone a voice at this point? I thought that still took a fair deal of work and custom training
  • OP Ledascantia The software she used was Natural Reader. They began offering a "create your own text- to-speech voice!" feature a while ago.
  • Routine_Breath_7137 This is wild. Who in their right mind would think this is okay?
  • TepHoBubba This is possibly illegal, let alone against corporate policy. Contact a lawyer and say/do nothing until you have professional advice.
  • alii-b I know the feeling. Today, I discovered we had a Christmas video of me and my team ai generated using an existing video. I shut that down quick, because although it starts with just one Christmas video, next they use my likeness for things I don't consent to. Filming me is one thing because I can control what I'm in, but creating a video using my likeness with my consent is a whole new problem. It's violating as fuck.
  • Diamond_Sutra Ask your boss's boss what would have happened (what would have been the legal ramifications) if your boss used your voice to say racist things, or disparage the company online? That might jar them into action.
  • Sedu I know this is Reddit's solution to everything, but have a lawyer lined up. What she did is crossing absolutely insane boundaries.
  • ez_noah Lawyer up, this sounds fraudulent
  • Solaris Wesson Most of those text to voice software need express permission from the person (you) when submitting the source audio. What they did was bad and might be illegal.
  • Sotilis Clone her voice saying she wants to resign

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