ScotRail fixing AI announcer after ‘controversy’ over voice, says Swinney

ScotRail is “fixing” an AI train announcer after claims it uses a woman’s voice without her permission, the First Minister has said.

John Swinney said there had been some “controversy” over the case, after Scottish voiceover artist Gayanne Potter claimed the publicly-owned rail operator based its AI announcer – who is known as Iona – on recordings she made in 2021.

But after prompting from Fiona Hyslop, he said: “The transport secretary tells me they’re fixing it, so they will be fixing it.”

The issue was raised at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, with Scottish Conservative MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane asking if it is how the Scottish Government – which took ScotRail into public ownership in 2022 – “supports actors”.

The Tory pressed the case with Swinney after Ms Potter, in a widely shared Facebook post, accused ScotRail of dismissing her concerns.

She said Iona came from voice data held by Swedish-based company ReadSpeaker, who she did recordings for in 2021 – adding that by using her voice in an AI model the company had acted outside of the terms of her agreement with them.

Ms Potter spoke of her “distress” at discovering Scotland had “installed the ReadSpeaker model ‘Iona’ that contains my biometric voice data as their new announcer on all their trains”.

She insisted: “I did not know. I was not asked. I did not consent.”

Swinney said he is “sure” the rail operator will be “engaging constructively with all concerned”.

He added: “I think sometimes these things do indeed need careful handling and I am sure ScotRail will be doing exactly that.”