AI Voice Mimics Dead Dad, Sparks Outrage

In November 2025, Lucy Wynne was startled to hear a voice she believed belonged to her deceased father, Paul Vaughan, in a Royal Mail Christmas advertisement. Vaughan, a prominent UK narrator, had passed away 11 years prior. Wynne expressed immediate concern that his voice had been recreated without permission using artificial intelligence.

Royal Mail confirmed that the slogan "Royal Mail, it's so much more than just a card" was voiced by AI, a practice they noted is increasingly common. However, the company maintained the voiceover was not designed to replicate any specific individual. The ad campaign was overseen by Darwin & the Machines and produced by Untold Studios, with the AI voiceover commissioned from Czech company Fameplay.

Despite Fameplay's insistence that Vaughan's voice was not used in generative prompts, and ElevenLabs' confirmation that it wasn't a direct clone, both academic and forensic analysis suggest strong similarities. Dr. Nadine Lavan stated family members are adept at voice recognition, and Professor Vincent Hughes found considerable phonetic overlap. Three open-source AI tools also indicated a high probability of the AI voice belonging to the same speaker as Vaughan.

Wynne and advocates for voice actors expressed outrage, criticizing the lack of thorough background checks and the potential for AI to exploit deceased individuals' voices. Vaughan's voice, widely available through his extensive work in broadcasting and audiobooks, is considered ideal for AI training. ElevenLabs has since added Vaughan to its 'No Go Voices' list, preventing direct cloning on their platform.