Masako Nozawa has been the voice of Goku since Dragon Ball hit TV screens in 1986, and today she made it pretty clear she doesn't want anybody borrowing that voice without asking first!
Nozawa, who turns 90 on October 25th, is a vice chair of the Japan Actors Union (Nippairen), which represents about 2,600 actors and voice actors. The union held a press conference in Tokyo on October 15th to release its first guidelines on generative AI and voices. Nozawa had a scheduling conflict, so she sent a video message to the press conference instead.
"AI's progress is amazing, isn't it? It feels like the things I dreamed about as a kid are coming true one after another, and I get excited too!" she said in the message, as reported by Natalie in Japanese (the English is our translation). "But our voices being used without permission? That leaves me a little disillusioned. I hope everyone follows the rules, so we can build a future where humans and AI can both have fun together."
NHK also reported on her comments. In a fan translation of that report by the account Dragon Ball Hype, picked up by Dexerto, Nozawa called using her voice without permission "unforgivable" and "the same as theft."
She wasn't the only Dragon Ball voice making that point. Bin Shimada, who voices Broly and sits on the union's board, said his eyes went wide the first time he heard an AI version of Broly singing Ado's hit "Usseewa."
The Legendary Super Saiyan, belting out J-pop!
Shimada told reporters that enjoying this stuff privately is fine but posting clips online of performers saying lines and singing songs they never recorded, just to rack up followers and make money, is something he can't accept, "no matter how you think about it," per Natalie and Bengoshi.com News.
The guidelines themselves ask for written consent at three separate stages: training on the voice, building an AI model of it, and using the output in a project. They prohibit buyout contracts, and consent generally lasts a year. The union's release also says AI voice use should be paid like a new performance, that AI dubbing into other languages needs fresh permission and extra pay, and that recreating a late performer's voice needs permission from their heirs.
Under the guidelines, companies that use a voice without consent can be asked to pull it, scrap the AI model, and pay an amount equal to their sales, retroactive to the day the unauthorized use began!
The guidelines are a voluntary standard, and carry no legal force.
Japan has no law that protects a person's voice on its own, and the union says it'll push lawmakers to write one. Vice chair Michihiro Ikemizu told reporters that could still take several years.
Nozawa's own voice is already part of a licensed AI deal. Back in October 2024, her agency Aoni Production partnered with CoeFont to build licensed AI versions of its actors' voices in English, Chinese and other languages, and Nozawa was one of the first two names announced, alongside Banjo Ginga. Those voices were meant for voice assistants, robots and navigation systems, with anime and dubbing kept off the table.
On September 30th, the Tokyo District Court ruled in Jujutsu Kaisen star Kenjiro Tsuda's lawsuit over AI-cloned TikTok videos that a person's voice can be protected by publicity rights. The Associated Press called it the first acknowledgment of the right to one's voice in Japan. The same ruling threw out Tsuda's request to have the videos deleted, because they had already been taken down.
Last year Nozawa became the first voice actor ever named a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government, and she's still adding roles, most recently joining the cast of Ranma 1/2 Season 3.
Shimada drew his line at clips that chase followers and money.
What do you think? If a fan-made AI Goku meme never makes a dime, should it still need Nozawa's sign-off?
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