A mum who sold her voice to AI while she was on maternity leave says she “doesn’t care” how her voice is used.
Accountant, Laura Shahu, 29, has a number of side hustles which she says bring in a pretty penny.
She completes surveys online and reviews responses from chatbots to rate their accuracy.
In her best month, the mum-of-two says she raked in a whopping £4,609 from side hustles alone.
And now she’s sold her voice to an AI company.
“I do not have reservations as a voice is inherently harder to identify to a particular person than a photo or video,” the accountant, from Surrey, told Need To Know.
“While I don’t know how exactly my voice will be used, I can take an educated guess based on the types of phrases I’m asked to record.
“I was asked to record phrases that you’d likely want to be able to ask your phone’s virtual assistant in the future.”
Laura said that even though there is a rise in AI-generated voice scams, she is not concerned.
The mum said: “I typically work with reputable agencies who provide work from vetted AI companies.
“I’m comfortable that the data I provide them isn’t intended to be used in a bad manner.”
While Laura is unable to say exactly how much she got for her voice, she said the figure was in the hundreds and it required just three to four hours of her time.
Laura was so happy with the experience that she said she would even be willing to sell her face to artificial intelligence “for the right price”.
She said: “I’d consider it but it would probably depend on what the AI wanted to do with my face.
“It’s an interesting idea though.”
This is not the first time that Laura has used AI as a side hustle.
She also trains bots in her spare time, describing the work as one of her best-paid sources of income.
Explaining how it works, Laura, who has two children, aged two and 11 months, said her job is essentially reviewing responses from AI chatbots and rating their accuracy.
She said it is a great side hustle as she can work as and when she wants to.
Laura said: “I am a qualified accountant and therefore they also pay extra for me to train AI in maths and accounting.
“The pay for training AI varies quite a bit as you can do it as a generalist, with high school level skills, or a professional in something, which is what I do and that pays at the higher end.
“It’s somewhere from like £12 to £47.50 an hour depending on the type of work you want to do.”
The mum, who plans to continue her side hustle journey when she returns to work, said she made £10 to £15,000 while on maternity leave.
But she advises anyone else considering AI work to do their research first.
She said: “Diversity your portfolio. The more side hustles you try, the easier it will be to figure out which ones work for you.
“Be open-minded to take on a challenge. It tends to be the niche and less well-known hustles that are the most rewarding.”
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