ScotRail to replace 'horrible' AI announcement voice Iona on Scotland trains after artist's complaint
Transport Scotland has confirmed a change will be made to ScotRail’s AI announcement voice.
The AI voice used for announcements on ScotRail trains will be replaced after a complaint from a professional artist.
The nationalised train operator had introduced the voice, provided by Swedish tech firm ReadSpeaker, on services from July last year.
However, Transport Scotland has now confirmed an alternative would be introduced "as soon as practicable" following an official complaint lodged by Scottish voiceover artist Gayanne Potter.
Edinburgh-based Ms Potter described feeling “violated” because her voice had been used for a different purpose to what she had agreed with ReadSpeaker.
A synthetic version of Ms Potter’s voice, known as Iona, had been used to replace pre-recorded human voice announcements on ScotRail trains.
Writing on her Facebook page in May, Ms Potter said: “I discovered last week that ScotRail’s new horrible AI train announcer Iona is in fact using my voice data - and nobody told me.
“I have been in dispute with a company in Sweden, ReadSpeaker, for over two years to get my voice data removed from their website.”
ScotRail had originally said the move was to “make announcements more modern and reflective of the routes the train serves”.
However, Transport Scotland has now confirmed that ScotRail is working on a Iona replacement, as first reported by The Mail on Sunday.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: "This issue was raised directly with ministers, both in correspondence and in Parliament.
"Our understanding is that ScotRail is working to make changes to the system, and this includes implementing an alternative 'voice' as soon as practicable. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, Scotland remains committed to leading AI development in a way that is ethical, inclusive, and trustworthy."
Ms Potter had previously said that in 2021 she had understood her voice would be used by ReadSpeaker “to provide text to speech recordings to be used for translation purposes from foreign language copy pasted into their site, and as an accessibility tool for people with visual impairment”.
However, she late discovered it was also being used for Iona, along with an AI-generated image of a red-haired woman, which was marketed by ReadSpeaker “for much wider purposes”.
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