AI Stokes Concerns Among Political Voiceover Talent

Generative artificial intelligence is starting to take a toll on voiceover talent and agencies as political creatives explore ways to deploy the emerging technology in ad-making.

While the use of AI voiceovers in political advertising is still limited – mostly confined to rough cuts and demos before an ad goes to air – voiceover artists and agents told Campaigns & Elections that they’re already feeling the effects on their business. 

Human voice talent hasn’t been replaced by AI entirely, they say. But as the technology advances and becomes easier – and more convenient – to use, they fear that more campaigns, consultants and ad agencies could begin to eschew voice casting in favor of AI narration. 

“It’s definitely affecting my talent. It’s definitely affecting my business,” said Lisa Ristau, a talent agent and the owner of Impress Talent. “Will my business and talent be needed in a few years? Maybe not.” 

As generative AI has improved, Ristau said that she’s even become concerned about having voice demos on her agency’s website, fearing that AI could use an audio clip to replicate her talents’ voices. Services like ElevenLabs and Speechify can effectively clone a person’s voice with only a few seconds of sample audio, and there are few safeguards in place to prevent a voice from being replicated without the original speaker’s knowledge.

“Technology is improving and improving,” Ristau said. “Could it pull someone’s 90-second demo and use that to create something in their voice?”

A growing number of states have enacted regulations around the use of AI in political advertising, including requiring disclaimers on ads that use AI-generated content. Those laws have left some political ad makers wary of leaning too heavily on the technology out of concern that they could run afoul of regulations that vary by state.

Still, there are several examples of AI-generated political ads that have made it to air. In the Republican primary for New Jersey governor, for instance, radio host Bill Spadea’s campaign ran an ad featuring an AI recreation of his opponent Jack Ciattarelli’s voice reading past statements he made about Trump in print.

Limits for AI

Some ad makers see AI voiceovers as a useful tool for creating scratch reads for ads – essentially demos that they can show to a client before finalizing the voiceover talent. At C&E’s Digital Campaign Summit in June, Rebecca Pearcey, a partner at the public affairs firm Bryson Gillette, said that while she’s begun using AI for early-stage voiceovers, she’s wary of the repercussions of relying too heavily on AI. 

“I don’t want to put us out of a job. I don’t want to put my production guys out of a job or VO artists,” she said during a panel discussion. 

Scott Lindman, a veteran voice talent agent in the politics world, said that business has been slower than usual this year and he suspects that AI is to blame. He acknowledged that it’s an off-year and said he expects business to pick back up as the 2026 midterms approach. 

Still, he said, “for demo presentations, for focus groups, we should have been a little busier than we are this cycle.”

“For those that make their livelihoods doing recordings for consultants, they’re really going to be impacted negatively. I’m already finding that business has been really slow,” Lindman said. “I’ve checked in with a lot of consultants and media people that I’ve worked with for 20 years, and they’re saying it’s just not busy right now. But even if they’re using AI for demo purposes, that’s cutting into the ability of the performer, the actor to make a livelihood.”

The pressure from AI isn’t being felt across the board. Ian Fishman, a Minneapolis-based voiceover artist who does voice work for political ads, said that he’s not worried yet about losing his job to AI-generated voiceovers, because there’s still a need for “surprise and nuance” that AI can’t yet replicate. 

He noted that the rise of AI has affected voiceover talent in more entry-level positions – less-experienced artists that find work narrating rough cuts and demos of ads. But when it comes to the final product, Fishman said, AI can’t replicate the richness that comes with casting human voice talent.

“The jobs that actually need actors, those are just fine and I expect those to continue to be just fine,” Fishman said. “AI can’t tell a joke, AI can’t tell a story. It can give you the text of a story, but it doesn’t really know what makes it work.” 

Fishman said that it would be a mistake for political ad makers to rely too much on AI for ad content. 

“Especially when it comes to political commercial work, where the whole crux of it is persuasion – if you’re putting out an AI voice, not only are you not putting out the most persuasive argument, but it’s just disrespectful to your voter base,” he said. “People dislike being talked to by AI in general, and any campaign that does that is shooting themselves in the foot. It’s so inauthentic.”

Ristau, of Impressive Talent, offered a similar assessment of AI voiceovers. The technology may be able to get the job done, she said, but it ultimately can’t capture the humanity of a voiceover artist.

“Every time you go with AI, you’re taking away someone’s income, someone’s livelihood. That’s No. 1,” Ristau said. “And if you’re pushing AI for political voices, you’re not going to get the best you can get, because AI isn’t personality. AI isn’t emotion. AI is a machine.”