Skip to main content TechRadar the technology experts Search TechRadar View Profile België (Nederlands) Deutschland North America US (English) Australasia New Zealand Tech Radar Pro Tech Radar Gaming Nintendo Switch 2 Best laptop Best web hosting NYT Wordle today Recommended reading Artificial Intelligence I cloned my voice in seconds using a free AI app, and we really need to talk about speech synthesis Artificial Intelligence Audible’s AI narration sounds impressive, but I'd rather hear the story told by a human Artificial Intelligence What is PlayAI: Everything we know about this text-to-speech, voice-cloning platform Artificial Intelligence What is Hume: Bring emotional understanding to AI-generated voices Artificial Intelligence The AI That Cried AAAAAAHHH! Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT started speaking like a demon mid-conversation, and it's both hilarious and terrifying Artificial Intelligence Meta ‘stole’ my book to train its AI – but there’s a bigger problem Artificial Intelligence I’ve heard the same train announcement voice for 30 years, but now it’s been replaced by AI – and Scotland isn't happy John-Anthony Disotto 28 May 2025 "It sounds like a Scottish version of HAL" When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Pixabay) Scotland's rail service has replaced the human train announcement voice with an AI one on some routes The voice technology is powered by Swedish company ReadSpeaker A voice actor claims the company is using her voice without permission, but ReadSpeaker says it has "comprehensively addressed" these complaints If you live in Scotland, or have ever visited our beautiful country and travelled on a train, you'll have probably heard the homely lilt of the female voice announcing station stops and other information. However, train company Scotrail has now replaced the iconic voice with AI, sparking uproar among commuters – and claims from a voice actor that Scotrail has stolen her voice. The new AI announcer is called Iona, and the robotic voice has replaced the human one that the majority of Scots have grown up with. Iona is currently rolling out on routes across Scotland, but so far has been met with hostility. You may like I cloned my voice in seconds using a free AI app, and we really need to talk about speech synthesis Audible’s AI narration sounds impressive, but I'd rather hear the story told by a human What is PlayAI: Everything we know about this text-to-speech, voice-cloning platform HATE the new ScotRail AI announcer voice. It sounds like a Scottish version of HAL from Space Odyssey!May 17, 2025 The AI voices uses text-to-speech technology that allows train conductors to input announcements that are then spoken across the public address system by Iona. That's my voice! Following the initial backlash against the AI voice rollout, Scotrail responded on X, saying, "Give it time and it may grow on you." One person the voice isn't growing on is voice actor Gayanne Potter, who's accused the Scottish Government-owned train company of stealing her voice. Potter is a voice actor who did some work for the Swedish company ReadSpeaker in 2021. ReadSpeaker is the company behind Iona, and at the time, Ms Potter was told her voice work would only be used for accessibility and e-learning software. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. After a friend sent her a link to ReadSpeaker's website, Potter recognized the voice, noticing similarities between her own tone and that of Iona, a persona that Scotrail is marketing as a red-haired Scottish woman, with an image that's also – of course – AI-generated. Ms Potter told the BBC, "It is my voice – I'm absolutely certain it's my voice.” Potter has been in a dispute with ReadSpeaker over the use her voice for two years. In response to the complaints, ReadSpeaker told the BBC, "ReadSpeaker is aware of Ms Potter's concerns, and has comprehensively addressed these with Ms Potter's legal representative several times in the past." In the BBC report you can listen to a comparison between Ms Potter and Iona. There's no denying the voices are very similar, although the real issue here is the protection of workers in the creative industry, and awareness of how they sign over their rights when producing work. Potter said, "It's hard enough for people in the creative industry to sustain careers, but to be competing with a robotic version of yourself just adds insult to injury." This is just the latest controversy in the debate over who owns what in the rapidly evolving world of AI. Potter says she didn't know at the time that her voice would be used to train a robotic one heard across Scotland. Now, she can't escape her 'own' AI voice. You might also like 5 better prompts to use with ChatGPT I replaced my to-do list with ChatGPT’s Tasks feature and it completely changed the way I plan my life I've tested all the best AI agents including ChatGPT Deep Research and Gemini - these are the 5 top automated artificial intelligence tools you can try right now See more Computing News John-Anthony Disotto Social Links Navigation Senior Writer AI John-Anthony Disotto is TechRadar's Senior Writer, AI, bringing you the latest news on, and comprehensive coverage of, tech's biggest buzzword. An expert on all things Apple, he was previously iMore's How To Editor, and has a monthly column in MacFormat. John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade, and is an award-winning journalist with years of experience in editorial. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. I cloned my voice in seconds using a free AI app, and we really need to talk about speech synthesis Audible’s AI narration sounds impressive, but I'd rather hear the story told by a human What is PlayAI: Everything we know about this text-to-speech, voice-cloning platform What is Hume: Bring emotional understanding to AI-generated voices The AI That Cried AAAAAAHHH! 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