No, Dragon Ball Star Masako Nozawa Did Not Sign Their Voice Away to AI
Dragon Ball star Masako Nozawa did not sign away their voice to AI for postmortem use.
There is no denying the talent Masako Nozawa wields. For decades now, the Japanese voice actor has overseen some of the biggest roles in anime, and her reign is far from done. From Dragon Ball to Doraemon, Nozawa has done it all, so you can see why fans began buzzing after rumors suggested the actress had made a controversial AI deal. But rest assured, no such moves have been made by Nozawa or her camp.
The whole thing kicked off this week on social media after Nozawa appeared in a featurette for Coemo, a device powered by AI in Japan that reads stories to young children. During the promo, Nozawa spoke about the gig and its use of AI. Overseas, fans began speculating that Nozawa's work with Coemo also signed her voice's likeness to its developer, but that is not the case.
In the video here, you can hear Nozawa talk about her impression of Coemo and why it is so important for children to be read stories. There is zero mention of Nozawa signing her voice off to Coemo or any other company. The debacle is the definition of lost in translation, but fans had some reason to suspect the rumor was true.
After all, Nozawa came under fire this week after she appeared in a deepfake video starring the late Leiji Matsumoto. If you did not know, the creator of Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999 passed away last year at the age 85. This year, both series are turning 50, and Matsumoto's estate gave permission for Real Sound to recreate the creator's likeness. Nozawa appears in the video of Deepfake Matsumoto to talk about the franchises, and the postmortem tribute did ick out a number of netizens. So when Coemo's video surfaced, well – it seems fans got ahead of themselves.
As for Nozawa, the actress has never spoken publicly about their voice being recreated in AI. For now, the Japanese actress has zero plans to retire. Despite being 87 years old, Nozawa has said she plans on acting for decades to come, so netizens don't need to worry about the Eternal Voice of Son Goku.
What do you make of this Dragon Ball debacle? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!