America's Most Wanted Celebrity AI Voice Belongs to Someone Who Doesn't Want the Job

Your AI assistant probably sounds like a polite stranger right now. Pleasant enough, but instantly forgettable. And while AI has changed how we search, shop, and create, with AI writing tools and content generators reshaping entire industries, the voice coming out of our devices has stayed stubbornly generic. Some might say a bit Siri-esque. That might not last much longer. Companies like ElevenLabs and Meta are racing to put real celebrity AI voices into their products, while iconic actors and their estates are fighting to keep their voices out. New laws are scrambling to keep up with both sides.

With the trend accelerating fast, we wanted to know whose voice people actually want living in their devices? So we asked 1,523 Americans a simple question: if you could pick one celebrity voice for all of your AI devices, whose would it be? The answer was overwhelming, a little ironic, and very on-brand for America.

Key Takeaways:

• Morgan Freeman is America's No. 1 choice for an AI voice (27.2%), and the top pick in 13 states, more than any other celebrity
• Three of the top five overall picks (Freeman, Johansson, Attenborough) have publicly opposed unauthorized AI voice cloning
• Liam Neeson is America's top pick for a crisis coach (25.3%), because when things go sideways, people apparently want to hear from the guy with a very particular set of skills
• Gordon Ramsay is the runaway pick for an AI cooking coach (34.7%), the highest percentage any celebrity received in any category
• Dolly Parton's three states (Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee) are all within a few hours' drive of her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee

The Celebrity AI Voices We Want Most

Morgan Freeman, and it wasn't even close. With more than 100 of the most recognisable voices to choose from, Freeman took 27.2% of the vote. Runner-up Scarlett Johansson pulled 14.4%, though we can neither confirm nor deny that her co-star in 2013’s Her, Joaquin Phoenix, was caught stuffing the ballot box. Tom Hanks came in third at 12.8%, because of course America's Dad made the podium. From there, the list gets interesting: David Attenborough (8.2%), the late James Earl Jones (6.8%), Dolly Parton (6.6%), Idris Elba (4.8%), Matthew McConaughey (4.5%), Snoop Dogg (4.1%), and Ryan Reynolds (3.9%). Samuel L. Jackson just missed the top 10 with 3.5%, which feels like the kind of thing he'd have some (loud) words about.

Here's the thing, though: Freeman has spent the past year sending lawyers after unauthorized AI clones of his voice. He told CBS Mornings in March 2026 that his response to AI mimicry is simple: "I got lawyers". And he's not the only one. Attenborough has called AI voice cloning "profoundly disturbing" after discovering cloned versions of his voice on YouTube delivering partisan political commentary. Johansson accused OpenAI in 2024 of launching a ChatGPT voice that sounded strikingly similar to hers, after she had explicitly turned down the gig. So the celebrity AI voices Americans want most? Many of them would really prefer you didn't.

Freeman's dominance on the map is hard to miss. He claimed 13 states, stretching from Connecticut to New Mexico, with a strong grip across the Midwest and South. Johansson and Hanks each took eight states, with Johansson winning coastal picks like New York, Florida, and Massachusetts, while Hanks swept New England and the upper Midwest. The late James Earl Jones, whose archived Darth Vader recordings were licensed to Ukrainian AI startup Respeecher as AI generated celebrity voices before his death in 2024, took four states, including Alabama, Michigan, and Ohio. Dolly Parton claimed three (Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee, naturally), and Matthew McConaughey won four states, including his native Texas.

Then there's Sam Elliott. His gravelly baritone didn't place in the national top 10, but he won eight states, tying Johansson and Hanks for the second-most of any celebrity. His territory reads like a western road trip: Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon... and then Pennsylvania and Vermont, because apparently the rugged cowboy voice plays just as well in places with covered bridges as it does in places with tumbleweeds.

The Dream Voices Behind Your Daily Routine

The poll also asked Americans to pick their dream celebrity voice for nine specific everyday AI scenarios, and the results are exactly as entertaining as you'd hope.

Need someone to get you out of bed? Dolly Parton will help you get ready for your 9 to 5 (24.1%), beating out Morgan Freeman (18.7%) and Bob Ross (14.3%). Need someone to get you through a workout? Samuel L. Jackson (26.8%), because nothing motivates quite like the voice of a man who has yelled in approximately 100% of his movies. We'd love to quote him here; however, our moms might be reading this. Arnold Schwarzenegger (21.3%) and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (17.4%) round out that podium.

Bad day? Bob Ross could be there to comfort you (25.7%), with Mr. Rogers standing by, neighborly as ever, (19.8%) as backup. GPS directions? David Attenborough (28.4%) takes the wheel, with Patrick Stewart (19.2%) close behind, which means Americans want their wrong turns narrated like a nature documentary or a starship mission. Either way, you're going somewhere interesting.

Gordon Ramsay dominated the cooking category with 34.7%, the highest single-category percentage in the entire survey. Julia Child (19.6%) and Martha Stewart (13.8%) came in second and third. Whether respondents want Ramsay gently guiding them through a risotto or yelling that their pasta is raw is a question the survey did not explore.

When asked who should be their AI therapist, people chose Robin Williams (23.8%) - the same voice that could make you laugh, cry, and feel understood all in one sitting. Amy Poehler (18.4%) and Bob Ross (15.9%) rounded out the top three. That last finish gave Ross his third podium across the survey, proving that even decades after his passing, people still just want to hear him tell them everything's going to be okay.

The Celebrity AI Voice Gold Rush

The survey comes at a time when the market for celebrity AI voices is taking shape fast. The same technology that powers the best AI content generators can now produce AI generated celebrity voices with eerie precision, and companies are racing to commercialize it. ElevenLabs launched its Iconic Voice Marketplace in late 2025, a consent-based platform where brands can pay to license AI-replicated celebrity voices. Michael Caine and Matthew McConaughey were among the first to sign on. Amazon went the opposite direction entirely, killing its celebrity Alexa voice add-ons (Samuel L. Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal among them) after concluding the rights management wasn't worth the trouble. The message? People want celebrity AI voices. Making that work legally and commercially is a whole different conversation.

New laws are catching up. The U.S. adopted the AI Transparency and Voice Rights Act in early 2026, and a proposed federal NO FAKES Act would make it illegal to create or distribute an AI voice replica without consent.

If these results tell us anything, it's that people want their AI to feel human. They want Dolly's warmth in the morning, Samuel L. Jackson's fire in the gym, and David Attenborough narrating every wrong turn on the way to the airport. They want Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen, Liam Neeson in a crisis, and Robin Williams when nothing else is working. And when given the choice of just one voice for everything? They chose Morgan Freeman. Getting him, though? That's a long game. Some voices, it turns out, can't be institutionalized.

Methodology

This study was conducted in March 2026 by Machined.ai, an AI writing assistant and content platform. Respondents selected their preferred celebrity voice across nine everyday AI scenarios: overall AI assistant, morning wake-up, workout motivator, voice of comfort, GPS navigator, bedtime storyteller, cooking instructor, news and book narrator, crisis coach, and AI therapist. For each scenario, respondents chose from an extensive list of celebrities and public figures. State-level results reflect each state's top overall pick for AI assistant voice. Supplementary research on celebrity AI voice news and legal developments was drawn from published reporting by The Guardian, BBC News, CBS Mornings, NPR, and other major outlets.

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