💼 Executive dysfunction goes literal

Voice acting isn’t a bad gig. Actors can find work across ads, video games, animated series, podcasts, and more — and the pay’s not bad. The average voice artist earns ~$37/hr, per Backstage, and many can work remotely from home studios.

Unfortunately, voice acting is also a job under threat from AI.

Historically…

… asking a computer to read something has resulted in narration that sounds exactly like you asked a computer to read something.

Yet new developments in generative AI have allowed bots to quickly pick up speech patterns and replicate realistic voices.

• CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan used AI to fool his parents, though they did suspect something was off.
• This is not Morgan Freeman.

And Remie Michelle Clarke, an Irish voice artist whose clients include Microsoft and Mastercard, told The Washington Post that she discovered an AI voice model on Revoicer.com that sounded just like her.

How Revoicer works

Subscribers can access hundreds of voices that can be made to say anything in various emotions and accents for as little as $27/mo.

Revoicer claims the process is simpler and faster than hiring a human — plus, companies don’t have to pay extra for updates or redos.

What can actors do about it?

Besides taking solace in the fact that many AI clips still sound stilted and unbelievable?

Not much… yet. While Universal Music Group got YouTube to scrub videos of AI-generated Eminem and Drake, voice actors typically don’t command the same celebrity.

There are also no copyright laws protecting voices from AI, and many contracts allow companies to reuse and sell voices.

Revoicer said it got Michelle Clarke’s voice via a licensing agreement with Microsoft — but agreed to remove it after WaPo reached out.

Plus side: AI voices are helping people who have difficulty speaking. Quips is a tool that allows ALS patients to record and “bank” their voice to create a synthetic voice for future use.

PepsiCo’s CEO speaks English, Spanish, French, German, Greek, and Catalan, but it’s his brand’s familiarity with Gen Z colloquialisms that may leave the competition ghosted.

At a time when soda consumption is declining — down 12% in the last decade — PepsiCo’s latest lemon-lime soda release promises to “hit different.”

Called Starry and launched in January, it’s an “optimistic” soda for an optimistic generation, so they say. (Not sure the data fully supports the Gen Z being optimists thing, but we’ll go with it.)

Fifth time’s the charm?

Following in the footsteps of Sierra Mist, Slice, Teem, and others, Starry is PepsiCo’s latest in a long line of lemon-lime liquids (say that 10x, fast).

PepsiCo’s goal here? To evaporate some of Sprite’s 73% market share, by entering the market with a pop — Starry is already the official soft drink of the NBA and WNBA.

The Coca-Cola Company’s Sprite has long been the lemon-lime king, holding a high Gen Z favorability rating and the endorsement of the King himself.

PepsiCo has a long way to go — yesterday, Coca-Cola reported global sales rose 5% in Q1 to $11B, beating expectations.

On PepsiCo’s snack front…

… It’s more of a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of situation. The owner of Cheetos, Doritos, Lay’s, Tostitos, and more, PepsiCo sees humanity eating potato chips so long as the sun rises.

To keep up with health trends, though, it’s now focused on making its unhealthy options a little less bad — by paying a team of highly trained operatives $20/hr to help taste test less salty and sugary snacks and drinks, per The Wall Street Journal.

Testers are reportedly not supposed to say “mmm” or “ugh,” but rather judge foods on flavor notes like “earthy,” “cardboardy,” and, um… “painty.”

Done a wellness check on your CEO lately? Today may not be a bad time.

There’s been a rash of exec-in-hot-water stories lately, topped by the latest fall from grace — NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was ousted for “inappropriate conduct” with a subordinate.

When an elite crowd holds both the welfare of our economy and millions of employees in their hands every day, it’s necessary to ask: Are they able to hold themselves together?

The headlines are making us less sure

• Clearlink’s James Clarke is doing damage control after questioning his team’s effort — singling out mothers, in particular — and praising an employee who sold his dog to return to the office.
• MillerKnoll’s Andi Owen apologized for telling her staff to “leave pity city” when they sought clarification about company bonuses — a controversy exacerbated by Owen’s ~$4m in 2022 bonuses.
• Axel Springer SE’s Mathias Döpfner saw comments leak in which he assailed Muslims, said he’s “all for climate change,” and labeled all east Germans “disgusting.”

It doesn’t stop there. C-suite stress has poured out in more bizarre ways:

• Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon is under fire for allegedly having employees manage his side hustle as an EDM DJ.
• Beyond Meat exec Doug Ramsey bit a man’s nose a few months back. He was suspended, left the company, and just pleaded guilty.
• And sure, it’s comparatively harmless, but Dodge’s Tim Kuniskis still has us worried, with his dreams about “weird, evil leprechauns.”

The strain isn’t new; the consequences are

Imagine simply getting out of bed in today’s world and not feeling at least some burnout. Then imagine running a multibillion-dollar company in that world. (Actually, no thanks. We’ll pass.)

A Harvard study puts CEOs at 62.5 on-the-job hours per week, but one must assume the stress never fully punches out. On top, social media adds further scrutiny, with every word and action (or inaction) a possible scandal-in-waiting.

The result for the executive class? A collective welfare that feels as tenuous as ever.