Voice cloning consent

Definition

Consent and safety in voice cloning are enforced at the API, not left to policy. Creating a voice on the Speechify Build API requires a consent record, and the platform is completing the move from asserted consent (a name and an email) to verified consent: the speaker reads a Speechify-issued phrase aloud, the recording is checked against that phrase and against the voice being cloned, and it is retained as the consent record for the voice. The last unverified integrations are deprecated and will be switched off.

Consent is mandatory

On the verified flow, the create call requires a consent_challenge_id and a consent_recording. The challenge comes from POST /v1/voices/consent-challenges, which issues a single-use phrase for the speaker to read aloud; a create request without a verified recording does not produce a voice. The recording is also matched against the sample, so the person consenting has to be the person being cloned - permission relayed by someone else does not pass. This makes consent a precondition of cloning rather than a checkbox after the fact. The previous flow, a consent JSON string carrying a name and an email, is deprecated and will be switched off on a date announced ahead of time.

Access control

Cloning is available on the paid plans, Starter, Pro, Scale, and Enterprise, and is not included on Free. A Free-tier attempt returns a 402 with the code voice_cloning_not_included, so the capability is gated to accounts that have it.

In practice

Whether you clone your own voice, an author’s, or a performer’s, the flow puts the speaker in front of a microphone as part of creation. See the voice cloning API for the field details.

Using cloning responsibly

The API guarantees the consent record; the ethics of use are in how you apply it. Responsible use means cloning only your own voice or voices you have explicit permission to use, capturing consent honestly rather than relaying it, and being transparent with your audience that a voice is synthetic. Cloning someone without their permission is the central risk in the field, which is why consent is a precondition of creation here and not a policy checkbox after the fact.