Baroness Jane Campbell has addressed the UK House of Lords using an AI recreation of her own voice. ElevenLabs says it is the first time an AI-generated voice has been used to deliver a speech in either chamber of Parliament.
Campbell has spinal muscular atrophy, and her ability to speak has deteriorated over time. Since 2012, an assistant has read her speeches. For this address, she uploaded older recordings so ElevenLabs could reproduce the tone, rhythm and pitch of her original voice, then played the generated audio through an assistive device.
The speech itself was written by Campbell and focused on Personal Health Budgets, which fund treatments, equipment and personal care in England. She emphasized that the system should remain accessible to disabled people. Campbell described the technology as a way to speak her own words rather than have AI create them.
The House of Lords’ Procedure Committee had previously made an accommodation allowing Campbell’s assistant to speak in the chamber. The new approach preserves more of her vocal identity and emotional delivery. It also illustrates a bounded use of voice cloning: the speaker initiated the process, supplied the source recordings and retained control of the message.