Clonecasting

The term “clonecasting” often refers to copying an actor’s persona, presentation style, appearance, and voice to create visual and audio media content. Audiences might think they are seeing and hearing a particular actor in a film, but the actor’s presence is fabricated from digital models. Famous cases involve the reconstruction of the deceased actor Peter Cushing in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and the creation of a younger digital version of Sean Young in Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

I also like to think of an audio podcast in which you have your content read out by a clone of your own voice as a “clonecast.” A promotional blog from the podcast platform Jellypod makes clear the advantages of using a cloned voice.

One of the biggest challenges for podcasters is the time and effort required to record, edit, and produce episodes. AI voice cloning eliminates much of that burden. Instead of spending hours in a recording studio, podcasters can input a script, and their cloned voice can automatically generate the audio. This streamlines the production process, allowing creators to focus more on content development rather than technical execution.

The author references “voice strain,” time constraints, and lack of access to equipment as impediments to recording your own voice to deliver podcast content. If effective, your cloned voice can read content tirelessly without faltering and flagging and with enthusiasm.

That said, here are two recordings of my cloned voice reading part of a blog post dated 13 October 2018: A word in your ear.

Here are two actorly voices supplied by ElevenLabs — which make me feel I should take some elocution lessons. Or at least enrol my clone in actor class.

This blog is hosted by WordPress. If I check the Podcast box in the editor of a post that includes a sound file then the sound file appears as a podcast at https://richardcoyne.com/category/podcast/feed/

If you copy-paste that URL into a podcast platform such as the Apple Podcast app on a smartphone, then you will hear several podcast episodes. I call my experimental podcast Tech-Thing.

Reference

• Marks, Pierson. “How AI Voice Cloning is Revolutionizing Podcasting.” Jellypod: Your AI Podcast Studio, 23 September, 2024. Accessed 11 July 2025. https://jellypod.ai/blog/ai-voice-cloning-podcasts.

Note

• Featured image is from ChatGPT: “Please provide an image of an old ear trumpet laid horizontally against a crumbling wall.”