Want to hear Matthew McConaughey read you something in Spanish? Or have Michael Caine narrate your corporate video? That's the future ElevenLabs is selling, and it just signed two of Hollywood's most distinctive voices to make it happen.
A Marketplace for Famous Voices
The New York-based startup unveiled its new Iconic Voice Marketplace at its inaugural Summit last month, announcing partnerships with McConaughey and Caine along the way. Think of it as a dating app for brands and celebrity voices—companies can request access to use someone's AI-cloned voice for specific projects, but there's no swiping right without permission.
Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs has also partnered with agencies including CMG Worldwide, a brand licensing and legacy management firm, to bring legendary voices and estates onto the platform. The marketplace operates as a two-sided platform where both the requesting company and the rights holder need to agree before ElevenLabs' technology formalizes the collaboration or licensing deal.
McConaughey Goes All In
McConaughey isn't just licensing his drawl—he's been an investor in ElevenLabs for several years and is now deepening the relationship. "It's been amazing to see the growth from those early days to where the company, and the technology, is now," he said in the company's statement.
His first project using the voice-cloning technology? A Spanish audio edition of his newsletter, "Lyrics of Livin'," featuring his AI-generated voice, according to a video shown at ElevenLabs' summit. McConaughey launched the newsletter "as a way to share stories and ideas in my own voice with those who want to listen."
"To everyone building with voice technology: keep going," the actor added. "You're helping create a future where we can look up from our screens and connect through something as timeless as humanity itself — our voices."
Caine Champions the Technology
Michael Caine framed the technology in philosophical terms, saying ElevenLabs is "using innovation not to replace humanity, but to celebrate it." The technology is "not about replacing voices; it's about amplifying them, opening doors for new storytellers everywhere," he added in a statement.
Caine's voice will be available on the ElevenReader app and the newly launched marketplace. He joins more than 25 other iconic voices already on the platform, including John Wayne, Liza Minnelli, and Laurence Olivier.
How the Platform Actually Works
Here's the important part: the Iconic Voice Marketplace doesn't provide blanket access to celebrity voices, according to The Wrap. Instead, it functions as a matchmaking platform connecting interested companies with the relevant brand or intellectual property rights holder. Only after both sides reach an agreement does ElevenLabs step in to make the technical magic happen.
Staniszewski from ElevenLabs told Variety that the marketplace "demonstrates how AI can responsibly expand opportunities for studio and talent, while enhancing storytelling." He called Caine "an iconic creator and voice whose cultural and artistic consequence we hope will only be further championed through this platform."
A Rocky Start on Misuse
ElevenLabs originally developed its technology to dub audio in different languages for movies, audiobooks, and video games while preserving the speaker's voice and emotions, the Associated Press reported. That's a genuinely useful application—imagine watching a foreign film where the actors still sound like themselves, just speaking your language.
But shortly after its public release in 2022, things got messy. ElevenLabs acknowledged in January 2023 that it was seeing "an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases" and promised new safeguards, including limiting certain features to paid users. A year later, a digital consultant used ElevenLabs software to mimic then-President Joe Biden's voice in a robocall message sent to thousands of New Hampshire voters, according to media reports.
The company has since implemented stronger controls, and the new marketplace's approval-based model represents a more buttoned-up approach to voice cloning—one where celebrities and rights holders maintain control over how their voices are used.