Nine lawsuits were filed between May 13 and 19, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group of Illinois-based journalists, podcasters, voice actors, and audiobook narrators against Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Samsung, Alphabet, Adobe, and ElevenLabs. The plaintiffs allege that these technology companies collected and used their voice recordings to train AI voice models without obtaining their consent or informing them, in violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act. BIPA requires companies to notify individuals, obtain their consent, and follow data retention limits before collecting biometric identifiers such as voiceprints. Statutory damages under the law can reach $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional violation. As of late August 2026, the defendants have filed motions to dismiss while the plaintiffs argue that the systematic harvesting of voice data constitutes the harm BIPA was designed to prevent.
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