ElevenLabs, the New York-based AI audio company recently valued at $6.6 billion, has signed Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine to voice licensing deals, allowing the firm to create AI-generated versions of their voices. The move is part of ElevenLabs’ push to address ethical challenges around voice cloning in Hollywood.
McConaughey, who has been an investor and collaborator with ElevenLabs since 2022, said the partnership will help him “reach and connect with even more people.” His newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’, will soon be available in Spanish audio, generated by ElevenLabs’ AI model trained on his voice.
Caine, known for his distinctive tone, joins the company’s newly launched Iconic Voices Marketplace, which lets brands and creators officially license celebrity voices for AI-generated use. “We can preserve and share voices — not just mine, but anyone’s,” Caine said, emphasizing that the goal is to “celebrate humanity, not replace it.”
The marketplace also features legendary and contemporary voices — from John Wayne and Judy Garland to Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel, alongside historical figures like Maya Angelou and Alan Turing.
The partnerships underscore a broader trend of Hollywood figures embracing AI, following similar deals by Meta, which partnered with celebrities including Judi Dench, John Cena, and Kristen Bell. Other stars such as Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio have also invested in AI ventures, highlighting the entertainment industry’s cautious but accelerating shift toward synthetic media collaboration.
