For decades, my voice has been my livelihood, often quite literally. Commercials, narration, characters, e-learning modules, each one a new story told through tone, rhythm, and breath. My days were full of scripts, clients, late-night retakes, and that familiar hum of the mic before a session. My voice was my business, my art, and, in many ways, my identity.
Then came Artificial Intelligence.
Sure, it’s been around for a while, but not like this. It crept in quietly, with a few “text-to-speech” apps here and a client mentioning “AI voice options” there. But we’re well past that now. With just a few clicks, anyone can generate a synthetic voice for their project.
The first time I heard one that had a similar sound to me, my stomach dropped. I thought, “Wait a minute that’s my job!” Here I was, aging ungracefully in what I thought was an age-proof career, and suddenly, a program could approximate it.
For a while, I wrestled with fear that my career, something I built from scratch with skill and soul, could be replaced by an algorithm that never needs a break and never sends an invoice. But after sitting with that discomfort, I realized something: change is inevitable. It’s evolution, and for creatives, evolution can be an invitation.
It forced me to ask, “What can I offer that a machine never could?”
The answer? Plenty.
AI can approximate tone, but it can’t capture truth. It can sort of simulate emotion, but it can’t feel, and it can’t act.
When I connect with a script, when I imagine the person on the other end of that ad or the character’s secret thought before they speak, something happens that AI simply can’t touch: there’s a spark. It’s real, organic, and alive. Ultimately, that is what we do as voice actors: make a script come alive.
A few years ago, a client once asked if I’d used AI on a read because it sounded, “too perfect.” I laughed (though a little bruised) because it was me. Since then, I’ve let go of “perfect”. Now, I aim for real: the breaths, the imperfections, the laughter that sneaks in, those are the moments that make people lean in and listen.
On top of what AI can’t do acting, there is another important aspect it can’t replicate: relationships. Relationships are where the fun and beauty of the work truly lives, for me. AI can produce sound, but it can’t build trust. It doesn’t know how to calm a nervous client, pivot mid-session with a director, or check in after a project just to ask, “Hey, how did it perform?”
The more automated things become, the more our human relationships become the true currency of this business.
I don’t see AI as the enemy anymore – and there are a few narrow use cases where I find it useful.
I use a Large Language Model chatbot to brainstorm, generate fake scripts for practice, polish copy, and prep for auditions. Sometimes I’ll even ask it to throw me curveballs: rewrite a script in a new tone, or push me toward a fresh character choice. When used with intention, ethics, and curiosity, it has the potential to expand creativity instead of replacing it.
I do believe we need to protect our voices and our rights. Both SAG-AFTRA and NAVA are doing their part in advocating for a fair and ethical world for voice actors, and the industry is served well by following their lead and standing together to maintain the rights and integrity of voice actors.
Voice-over is still my home base, but I’ve widened the circle: I coach, I consult, I create content. True creativity doesn’t stay in one lane, and every time I teach or collaborate, every time I work with a new voice actor, I get better at listening, storytelling, and understanding what people feel when they hear a voice.
AI will never know what that feels like.
Real voices have texture. They tell the story of the person behind them, the late nights, the rejections, the wins, the lived life that seeps into every syllable. Connection lives in the crack of a voice, the pause before emotion breaks, the moment an audience feels something genuine.
My voice is still my instrument, my livelihood, and my art and proof that authenticity never goes out of style.
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