🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
TikTok has replaced the voice behind the popular text-to-speech generator feature, weeks after the original voice actor filed a lawsuit against the company.
The app introduced the text-to-speech feature in late 2020, and the feature proved a success, often adding comic relief to videos.
On Monday, May 24, users of the North American version of the app noticed a big change in the female text-to-speech voice—a whole new voice was being used. For users in other regions, with different voice actors, their text-to-speech has seemingly stayed the same.
At the start of May, the voice actor behind the original North American text-to-speech generator, Bev Standing, opened a lawsuit against TikTok. Standing alleged the app did not have her permission to use her voice for the feature.
According to Standing, her voice was recorded for the Chinese Institute of Acoustics in 2018 for the use of translations. Standing alleged that she did not give permission for the recordings to be used in other applications.
She alleged that in 2020, friends and family began sending her clips from her voice being used on TikTok.
For Standing, the issue is that TikTok users can get her voice to say anything they want, including profanities. "When I realized you could get me to say anything you want...that's when I kind of got upset," said Standing to the BBC, describing the speech as "totally against brand."
In May, a representative for TikTok told The Telegraph it did not comment on continuing litigation.
It's unconfirmed whether the change is directly connected to the lawsuit, but the app has now replaced Standing's recordings for users.
Regardless of the cause, TikTok users have reacted strongly to the change in the app, after the feature became a key component of many people's content.
"I miss the old text-to-speech lady from TikTok, she was so passive aggressive it was funny. The new one just sounds too nice," wrote one user on Twitter.
"TikTok's new text-to-speech has vocal fry?" wrote another user, noting the 'back of the throat sound of the new voice. Other users even compared the recordings to a "valley girl," accent.
Other TikTok users have compared the new voice to other recognizable online voices, including Barbie and the voice from Grammarly's YouTube adverts, which became a popular TikTok audio in January this year.
"She's too excited," said a TikTok user in a video testing out the new voice.
While some on the app have even been experimenting with the updated feature, and its boundaries, testing what it will and won't say—including profanities and slurs.
Newsweek has contacted TikTok, who were not immediately available for a comment.
