ElevenLabs has added a Deepak Chopra to the stable of celebrity voice clones available on its Reader App. Chopra’s AI-generated voice can now read out any digital text to you with his full approval. Chopra joins the likes of Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier as a celebrity voice, though he is the first still-living person who has signed up to have his synthetic avatar read digital texts.
Chopra has been a leader in promoting meditation and mindfulness for decades and is also taking the lead in deploying a voice clone of himself. A few months ago, ElevenLabs and Chopra produced a virtual Chopra chatbot called Digital Deepak. Trained on Chopra’s collected speeches, books, interviews, and other comments, Digital Deepak acts as a limited but still knowledgeable source for Chopra’s thinking. You can ask Digital Deepak about himself and his work and get personalized responses from his AI voice clone.
The success of Digital Deepak is what led to Chopra and ElevenLabs extending their partnership to the Reader App. The Reader app uses voice clones like Chopra’s to perform any uploaded text. It will read the words and mimic human emotion based on the context.
Those interested in hearing the voices can try the ElevenLabs Reader app for free for three months or subscribe to ElevenLabs’ platform to gain access to the iOS or Android app. ElevenLabs has suggested that using celebrity voices will enhance any listening experience. Chopra’s inclusion with the Hollywood Golden Age stars suggests it won’t just be for entertainment but also for deeper topics.
Chopra Speaks
“I am proud to announce my partnership with ElevenLabs. Listening can help cultivate emotional nurturing and engagement. This is no different in the age of AI, it is only more important,” said Chopra. “I have always written to connect with people, and now I can connect on a deeper level with a global audience as I make my teachings available for everyone in my own voice.”
Performers have expressed concern that AI will leave them out of a job since it can recreate their look and sound far more cheaply. Meta has already proven it will pay big bucks to get celebrities to voice the Meta AI assistant, and Disney ensured it had a deal with James Earl Jones before he passed to legally recreate his voice if they want Darth Vader in future projects. Recent actor union strikes have made stronger protections against unfair AI replication of their performances part of their bargains. For now, ElevenLabs wants people to see Chopra and other famous voices as a way to create deeper connections with people they respect, even if it’s all synthetic.
“At ElevenLabs, we’re committed to preserving and celebrating cultural legacies while pushing the boundaries of technology,” said Dustin Blank, Head of Partnerships at ElevenLabs. “By bringing voices like Deepak Chopra to our platform, we’re not just enhancing our app – we’re creating new ways for people to connect with the most influential figures and their work.”
