Baroness Campbell 用 ElevenLabs 语音克隆完成英国议会首次 AI 语音演讲

When Jane Campbell was just one year old, she was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy. Despite this, Campbell established herself as one of the UK’s leading disability rights campaigners, and in 2007, she was made a life peer of the House of Lords, as Baroness Campbell of Surbiton. 

Baroness Campbell’s condition has affected her ability to speak, with her voice gradually deteriorating over the years. Since 2012, she has relied on an assistant to help her deliver her speeches. But today, for the first time in years, Baroness Campbell addressed the House of Lords in her own voice. 

Using an AI recreation of her voice, built by ElevenLabs, the Baroness was able to speak for herself to the House, on a subject that has been at the core of her years of campaigning, during the Second Reading of the Health Bill. She delivered her speech with her own voice using an emotional valence that she hasn’t been able to in decades. It’s the first time a peer or member of the UK Parliament has used an AI-generated voice to address either house of Parliament. 

“I used AI to speak my own words, not to put words into my mouth. The speech, the arguments and the views are entirely mine,” Baroness Campbell said. “It’s my voice, my style, my words. A totally empowering experience.”

Baroness Campbell found our voice cloning technology on her own, and decided to use it to recreate her voice. By uploading old clips of her speaking, the Baroness created an AI voice that replicates the tone, rhythm, and pitch of her original voice. She then used our text-to-speech generator to create an audio version of her speech, which was then played through an assistive device in the House of Lords. 

When the House of Lords’ Procedure Committee granted Baroness Campbell permission to bring her assistant into the Chamber to read for her in 2012, it was a departure from a rule dating back to 1707 that prohibited non-peers from “crossing the bar” and speaking in the House. Today’s AI-generated speech is the second time the Committee has granted an accommodation to the Baroness so that she could fully participate in parliamentary proceedings.   

“Our chamber is full of diverse experts and trailblazers, like Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, all of whom should be able to contribute fully,” said Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, the Lord Speaker. “While there are justifiable concerns about some uses of AI, when used in this and many other ways, for good, we must recognize its capabilities and transformative potential.”

Baroness Campbell’s speech focused on Personal Health Budgets (PHBs), funds allocated to individuals in England to help support their health and wellbeing needs for treatments, equipment, and personal care. She maintained that PHBs must stay accessible to the disabled people who rely on them and be extended to others who could benefit. 

“I depend upon a Personal Health Budget myself,” Baroness Campbell said. “I know from personal experience the difference that having control over the support you receive can make to living an independent life.”

Being able to converse in her own voice is one way that the Baroness has been able to use technology to help her live independently. Our technology has now been used to restore the voices of more than 11,000 people who have lost their voices through injury or illness. We have committed to help one million people living with voice loss around the world.  

“Our voices carry a part of our identity, and losing the ability to use them can mean losing the ability to take part in the conversations that shape our lives,” said Mati Staniszewski, co-founder and CEO of ElevenLabs. “Baroness Campbell has spent decades advocating for disabled people, and we are proud that our technology can help her do exactly that in the House of Lords and beyond.”

If you or someone you know has lost their voice and wants to learn more, visit the ElevenLabs Impact Program page.