Not automatically. AI voice cloning used with consent is legal and has real uses, from audiobooks to accessibility. Without consent, it’s what the clone is used for that decides whether a law has been broken: scams, threats and fake endorsements all can be. If your voice is part of how you earn a living, it’s worth knowing where those lines sit, and what personal brand protection can and can’t do.
When does voice cloning become a crime?
- Fraud: a cloned voice used to get money is fraud. The best-known version is the “CEO voice” scam, where a cloned boss calls the finance team to approve an urgent payment. The family version is a cloned child or parent calling in a panic.
- Threats and harassment: using a cloned voice to threaten someone, or repeatedly to cause distress, can be a criminal offence.
- Sexual content: creating sexually explicit deepfakes of an adult without consent has been an offence in England and Wales since February 2026.
Does someone need your consent?
Not to make a voice that simply sounds like you. The UK has no general right to own the sound of your voice. A comedian doing an impression of you isn’t breaking the law, and a machine isn’t treated any differently.
That gap is being looked at. In March 2026 the government said it would consult on digital replicas of people’s voices and likenesses. Performers have since written to the Prime Minister asking for a legal right to their own voice. For now, that’s a proposal, not law.
What rights do you have today?
- Your recordings and performances: copying your actual recordings can infringe copyright, and performers have rights over recordings of their performances. A voice that only sounds like yours isn’t the same as copying a recording.
- Your voice as personal data: a recording of your voice is personal data. When it’s used to recognise you, as with voice ID, it counts as biometric data, with stricter rules. That can give you a data protection complaint against an organisation that uses your voice without a lawful basis.
- Fake endorsements: a cloned voice suggesting you back a product can be passing off, where you have a reputation and people are misled.
If your voice is cloned
Keep the audio, the messages and the account details. Report it to the platform, and warn your contacts through a channel they trust if there’s any risk of a scam. Check any unexpected request for money by calling a number you already know. Fraud can be reported to Report Fraud, or to Police Scotland on 101 if you live in Scotland.
A registered trademark helps where your name, or a registered sound mark, is used to sell something. It doesn’t ban synthetic versions of your voice. We explain what a voice mark covers in Can you trademark your face or your voice?, and trademark monitoring helps you spot fake adverts using your name.
Want to talk it through? Book a free 15 minute call, email enquiries@thetrademarkhelpline.com or call 0161 833 5400.
Related questions
- Can you trademark your face or your voice?
- Does UK law protect your likeness from deepfakes?
- Someone is impersonating me online, what can I do?
This answer is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance. Last reviewed 3 November 2026.
