Respeecher

• 1. Introduction

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  Respeecher, a Ukrainian software company, stepped into public view in December 2020 when its name appeared in the credits of The Mandalorian's season finale. The company had synthesized the voice of young Luke Skywalker for the Disney streaming series. The technology replaced one person's voice with a specific target voice using artificial intelligence.

  Respeecher was founded in February 2018. Within its first year, the startup completed the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, a program run with Techstars. By early March 2020, the company had secured $1.5 million in startup funding. Since its founding, total investments have reached over $3 million. The team doing this work is based primarily in Ukraine.

  That geographic detail would become unexpectedly significant. But Respeecher had already found itself at the center of a question the entertainment industry had never had to answer. When a voice can be separated from its speaker, who has the right to use it?

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• 2. A President Speaks

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  The 2019 internet short film "In Event of Moon Disaster" imagined the address Richard Nixon would have given if the Apollo 11 crew had not returned. An actor performed those words. Respeecher synthesized Nixon's voice and layered it over that performance.

  In September 2021, the project earned a News and Documentary Emmy Award for outstanding interactive media documentary. The Emmy citation described the film as a deepfake documentary.

  In February 2021, Respeecher had also built a voice for Vince Lombardi for a Super Bowl commercial.

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• 3. The Voice of Vader

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  "Chapter 6" of The Book of Boba Fett carried a Respeecher credit in February 2022 for the synthetic voice of young Luke Skywalker. On the 27th of June 2022, a larger commission arrived. The company created an AI voice for Darth Vader for the series Obi-Wan Kenobi, built from archive recordings James Earl Jones had made for earlier Star Wars projects.

  Jones signed a deal with Lucasfilm authorizing his voice to be used in future productions. He subsequently retired from voicing Darth Vader later that year.

  In November 2022, Sony's God of War Ragnarök became the first video game to credit a synthetic speech artist. Respeecher had provided that voice. In October 2023, a video game studio would face the same authorization question. This time, the actor whose voice was needed had already died.

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• 4. After the Artist

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  Miłogost Reczek had died in 2021, two years before the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Reczek had voiced Viktor Vektor in the original game's Polish release. In October 2023, CD Projekt announced it had used Respeecher to recreate his voice for the expansion and had obtained permission from Reczek's family.

  In 2023, Respeecher also contributed to a track by the late rapper Riky Rick. The song "Stronger" was assembled from social media posts Riky Rick had left behind.

  In March 2022, Respeecher enabled Aloe Blacc's tribute to Avicii, "Wake Me Up," to be performed in multiple languages through singing voice cloning.

  In 2023, the documentary series Goliath used Respeecher's technology to provide a voice for Wilt Chamberlain.

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• 5. Working Through Invasion

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  The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. Respeecher continued operating through the conflict. In 2023, the company contributed to the development of the Zvook, an acoustic sensor system. The system was tailored to the requirements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The project was endorsed by Brave1, a Ukrainian government platform for defense technology. Respeecher provided expertise in automation and signal identification, enhancing the system's ability to discern the origin of impacts and contribute to military operations. That same year, work on an MTV News promo for the television series Yellowjackets earned the company a Clio Entertainment Award Gold.

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• 6. Governing Synthetic Media

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  In February 2023, Respeecher joined OpenAI and TikTok as one of the first ten signatories to the Partnership on AI's community-driven framework for synthetic media. The framework was designed to guide the ethical and responsible development, creation, and sharing of AI technology and synthetic speech.

  The company endorsed the NO FAKES Act in 2024. Its statement described the bill as "vital in safeguarding individual rights against unauthorized use of their voice and likeness." The statement cited the age of advanced artificial intelligence and deepfake technology as the reason such protection was needed.

  In 2024, the film Emilia Perez took the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. A BBC promo for The Capture received the Campaign Audio Advertising Award for best use of AI. The Webby Awards gave two prizes to a project called The Impossible Bedtime Story, in the categories of best art direction and accessible technology. An in-development video game adaptation of Lost in Space remains unreleased, with Respeecher providing the voice of Will Robinson.

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