Nine Episodes Used an AI Voice, Now It Is Me
Nine Episodes Used an AI Voice, Now It Is Me
Episode 10 of Calling Out the Shadows: A Clarity Over Comfort Podcast
The Words Were Always Mine. The AI Voice Only Changed the Sound.
For the first nine episodes of this podcast, I ran my own voice through an AI voice-altering tool that changed its sound. The writing was mine, the delivery was mine, and the voice underneath was mine. Only the sound was changed. This episode is my own voice, the same one I used to narrate the audiobook.
THE SHORT VERSION
- For the first nine episodes I used an AI to alter the sound of my voice.
- The words were always mine, and so was the voice; only the sound was changed.
- This episode is my own voice, the same one from the audiobook.
- I can use my real voice and still protect my identity with a pen name.
- Clarity over comfort, transparency over secrecy, structure over spin.
LISTEN
Listen and follow Calling Out the Shadows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, Spreaker, YouTube, Pandora, and many other podcast platforms.
QUESTIONS THIS EPISODE ANSWERS
Did an AI write or read this podcast?
No. The words were always mine, and the voice was mine. For the first nine episodes I used an AI to alter the sound of my voice. The writing and the delivery were always my own.
Why did you use an AI-altered voice for the first nine episodes?
I was working on a level of protection while I looked into my rights. Once I understood I could use my own voice and still stay anonymous, I stopped altering it.
Is your real voice new?
No. It is the same voice I used to narrate the audiobook for Calling Out the Shadows. Only the podcast carried the altered sound, and only for nine episodes.
Can you use your real voice and still stay anonymous?
Yes. A pen name protects my identity, and my voice is not my legal name.
I am not confirming, denying, or engaging speculation about who I am.
Why does this matter to you?
For me it comes down to clarity over comfort, transparency over secrecy, and structure over spin. My own voice fits that better than an altered one.
IN THIS CONVERSATION
- Why I am retiring the AI-altered voice
- The research and the rights that let me use my own voice while staying anonymous
- What the first nine episodes actually were
- Protecting the story and protecting my daughter
- Choosing clarity over comfort
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Text Transcription of the Episode
Download the full transcript (.txt)
A Major Change in My Voice
This is Neal Winsomer. It still is Neal Winsomer. You may notice a major change today in my voice. I am officially retiring the AI-altered voice and moving to my real voice.
It is the exact same real voice I used to narrate the audiobook for Calling Out the Shadows.
My Right to a Pen Name and My Own Voice
In being completely transparent about how and why I am doing this, I have done some research. I have had a few conversations with legal aides and a lawyer.
Under the First Amendment, I have an absolute right to freedom of expression, which legally includes the right to create, publish, and speak anonymously or under a pseudonym.
Using a pen name is protected, time-honored, and a creative right. Using a pseudonym to protect one’s privacy is entirely lawful, provided it is not used to defraud. I am not impersonating anyone. There is zero identity theft. I am simply expressing my own creative work.
As I was putting up the first nine episodes, in being honest, I had to note whether it was AI-enhanced. And it was. So I said it was. It was my script. Where I fumbled, the voice fumbled, but there was a lack of authenticity for me, and I was not happy with it.
Looking up my right to privacy, the elements of legal identity, and plausible deniability, I realized that as long as I walk a careful line, I can use my voice.
Going Quiet and Staying Protected
I am not going to engage with, confirm, deny, or reply to any external speculation, messages, or accusations about who I am in the real world. Any attempt to breach this boundary, or to use this creative outlet to interfere with my personal life, will be met with silence and documented for my legal protection.
I have to create a balance, and I have to stand for myself. I have to stand in authenticity, in transparency. It is a pen name, so it is not complete transparency, but in that, it protects my daughter and it protects me.
In this entire process, I was creating to protect myself and to protect this story, so that whether I was here or not, the story would come out and could not be muted, dulled, deleted, or stopped.
Why It Had to Be My Voice
I walked very carefully, and I continue to. I have not made wild statements. I have shared my opinions, and often substantiated proof, but I kept it in the theme of opinions and views.
When I was doing the audiobook, I saw so many people put out audiobooks using AI generation or someone else. When I first started, I said no. The timing, the extra breaths, the mistakes, the flow, the tempo, for how I wanted to share it, it had to be my voice.
Then I took a step back with the podcast. For the first nine episodes I flipped it over to a voice on what is called ElevenLabs. It was close, and it hit some of the inflections, but it still was not me.
Part of what I share is that people might connect a little more with who I am, with how I speak, and with the way I deliver it. So I was not hiding with the first nine episodes. I was working on a level of protection.
A View, Not an Attack
If you are not familiar with the book, or if this is one of the first things you hear from me, this is not an attack. It is a view. It is an experience. It is what I went through.
It is the approach I am taking that I hope, down the line, my daughter will understand: how I chose clarity over comfort, transparency over secrecy, structure over spin, and love over anger.
Many things angered me. Many things that were said were not right, and many were lies. As opposed to hitting a lie with a lie, or countering, or reacting, I worked through this to get better.
I am not perfect. I made my share of mistakes. There is a part of me that feels I was blinded from some things so that I could have my daughter. I tell her regularly that I do not regret it. If I look back and it would not include her, I would go through all of it again.
Protecting My Daughter
I am not letting my daughter see this right now. She knows about the book. We have had conversations about it. She has seen the cover and finds it kind of cool, but I have made it clear this is not for a girl her age.
I have her number one copy, the first copy of this, boxed up with a special note to her, sealed, so that when she is ready, I will get it to her and she can open it.
This Is My Tone, My Story
I am going to my real voice. This is the pen name, Neal Winsomer. I am not going to share my real name, my daughter’s name, my ex-wife’s name, or other identifying details, so that I can use my voice, my tone, my experience.
Now that I understand my rights, I want to be as transparent as possible while in this level of protection. I want to put up a podcast and not say it is AI-enhanced, because it is not. These are my words. One take. I make mistakes, I breathe, and it bothered me that, in the middle of talking about transparency, I had to flag it because of the voice-altering tool.
So, as far as I am concerned, the first nine were me. That was my script. This continues to be me, but now I do not have to click that AI-enhance button.
This is my tone, this is my story, this is what I am about. It is part of why I wrote Calling Out the Shadows: sharing with my daughter, and connecting with others who may be going through the same kind of experiences. I am no expert. I am no authority. I know what I know, I have learned what I have learned, and I choose to share this to engage and to be transparent, and maybe it might help a person or two. That is the deal, and that is me.
ABOUT THE HOST
Neal Winsomer is the pen name of the author of Calling Out the Shadows: A Father’s Stand Against the Current, a memoir and practical guide. He writes from lived experience as a father. He makes no claim to clinical expertise and offers no prescriptions; he shares his own views and what he went through.
Calling Out the Shadows is available in paperback, hardcover, ebook, audiobook narrated by the author, large print, and a Skimmer’s edition. Published by Neal Winsomer Publishing LLC.
