Hebrew voice of Siri sues Apple, says it didn't obtain proper rights
An Israeli radio personality and voice actor is suing Apple, claiming the company is using her voice for the Hebrew version of Siri without permission -- in some cases leading to her being made to say undesirable things.
Galit Gura-Eini is asking for about $66,000 in damages according to Calcalist, saying she was surprised to learn she'd become Siri when the Hebrew version of the AI assistant debuted in 2016. Earlier in 2018, she reportedly asked Apple to remove her voice but had the request turned down.
Part of the problem, according to a complaint filed through a district court in Tel Aviv, is that while Gura-Eini's voice is "widely identified and associated" with her real-life persona, through Siri it's been turned "into a vehicle for improper and humiliating speech." This includes sexist, racist, and violent phrases.
The complaint insists that when Gura-Eini originally recorded her voice for Nuance in 2007, she granted rights for use in speech production software and "legitimate" purposes only.
In response to the allegations, Apple laywer Amir Halevy said that the company did obtain rights to the recordings, and that Gura-Eini doesn't have any and has already been compensated. A representative for the company maintained that "her voice on the Siri app is nothing but syllables joined together by an algorithm."
Until 2017 Gura-Eini was also well-known in Israel as one of the Hebrew voices for Google's Waze navigation app. An app update removed her and some other Hebrew voices as options.
Galit Gura-Eini is asking for about $66,000 in damages according to Calcalist, saying she was surprised to learn she'd become Siri when the Hebrew version of the AI assistant debuted in 2016. Earlier in 2018, she reportedly asked Apple to remove her voice but had the request turned down.
Part of the problem, according to a complaint filed through a district court in Tel Aviv, is that while Gura-Eini's voice is "widely identified and associated" with her real-life persona, through Siri it's been turned "into a vehicle for improper and humiliating speech." This includes sexist, racist, and violent phrases.
The complaint insists that when Gura-Eini originally recorded her voice for Nuance in 2007, she granted rights for use in speech production software and "legitimate" purposes only.
In response to the allegations, Apple laywer Amir Halevy said that the company did obtain rights to the recordings, and that Gura-Eini doesn't have any and has already been compensated. A representative for the company maintained that "her voice on the Siri app is nothing but syllables joined together by an algorithm."
Until 2017 Gura-Eini was also well-known in Israel as one of the Hebrew voices for Google's Waze navigation app. An app update removed her and some other Hebrew voices as options.
Comments
Part of the problem, according to a complaint filed through a district court in Tel Aviv, is that while Gura-Eini's voice is "widely identified and associated" with her real-life persona, through Siri it's been turned "into a vehicle for improper and humiliating speech." This includes sexist, racist, and violent phrases.
The complaint insists that when Gura-Eini originally recorded her voice for Nuance in 2007, she granted rights for use in speech production software and "legitimate" purposes only."
So, "improper and humiliating speech"... but oh, $66 grand will take care of it. Now that's integrity! I'd guess that the amount is finely calculated to be below the threshold of a major corporation's potential interest in litigation expenditure.
"Legitimate purposes" probably means lawful purposes. Unless Nuance was totally incompetent she would have signed a boilerplate release with them back in 2007, just as all hired talent does. Whatever its terms are will govern the outcome of this storm in a teacup, but "use in speech production software" certainly seems to cover Siri.
'Siri it's been turned "into a vehicle for improper and humiliating speech."'
???
It would be nice to know the views she thinks Siri has that are improper and humiliating. My guess is she had no idea what Nuance was going to use this for and had even less clue Apple would use Nuance's work as the basis for Siri voice command and control. Now she just wants more of the pie.
I imagine Apple did, and in this case, Nuance as well. The boilerplate probably wasn't specific enough to exclude use by Apple and anything that she might find objectionable and put her in a bad light, possibly jeopardizing her job/career.
She wouldn't be the first celebrity to have their image or voice used in an unforeseen and undesirable manner, but good legal teams been much better at avoiding that, particularly in the 'digital age'.
As to her idea of improper and humiliating, I'd say 'sexist, racist, and violent phrases' might be a clue. I agree she had no idea how it would actually turn out. Sadly, she and her legal council may not have done their due diligence.
As to 'just wanting more of the pie, I don't agree. And I think there just might be a cease and desist tied to the compensation claim.
Yes, we sometimes (read: usually) to consider that there is a whole world outside our own and that localization matters. $66K is chickenfeed in a lot of places, but NIS 250,000 might be real money where she is. Still, it's pocket lint to Apple. At the very least Apple should follow suit (lol) with Waze and remove her voice.
It'll be interesting to see how this goes if and when more information becomes available. The good thing for us is that we don't need actual facts. They're just hurdles in jumping to conclusions fueled by idolatry. Great fun!
(I have no opinion of the claim, I just wanted to make that pun)
Apple will find another voice for the Hebrew Siri.
This will all be over in a few months.
What is it that Hebrew Siri says that English Siri does not?
Your comment smells like passing judgement without any actual understanding of the situation.