Nine tech giants face Chicago suits over AI voice use
Nine tech giants, including Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, are facing lawsuits in Chicago for allegedly using people's voice recordings without permission to train their AI.
Journalists, podcasters, and audiobook narrators say their voices were taken without consent, which could be a big deal under Illinois's strict privacy law.
BIPA allows $5,000 per violation
If the courts side with the plaintiffs, each company could owe hundreds of millions since BIPA allows up to $5,000 per violation.
Plaintiffs' lawyer Ross Kimbarovsky says these companies collected voices "from every source imaginable."
The tech firms deny any wrongdoing and call the claims speculative or "incorrect," arguing that the law shouldn't apply outside Illinois.
The case also highlights how fast tech is changing what counts as private, and who gets a say.