Matti Klemm announces lawsuit against Netflix over AI training on his voice

What happened

On 3 November 2026 the Verband Deutscher Sprecher:innen (VDS), the association of German voice artists, announced that its member Matti Klemm will file a lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the company trained AI systems on his personal voice recordings without his knowledge or consent. Klemm is the German dubbing voice of Jason Momoa and Mahershala Ali. The filing is planned for the end of 2026; no complaint has been filed yet.

The basis of the claim

According to the VDS, Netflix answered a data-access request from Klemm, and the answer shows the company had already trained AI systems with his personal voice recordings. Klemm says he never signed the new AI-training clauses (the AOR) that Netflix began asking German dubbing artists to sign in early 2026, and was never consulted or paid. He claims breach of his personality rights, his copyright and his data-protection rights. The Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF), a Berlin civil rights group, is backing the case and crowdfunding it.

What the planned case asks for

The GFF says it will ask a court for three things: disclosure of how much of Klemm's voice data was used and which AI systems were trained on it; an order stopping Netflix from using his voice data to train AI systems in future; and a ruling that he is entitled to damages. The group presents the case as a test case for voice rights.

Netflix's position

Netflix told the news agency dpa that it takes the current discussions seriously and pointed to an agreement reached last year with the actors' union BFFS on AI, which it says strengthens protections for voice actors. The company said its use of AI is in accordance with applicable law. Netflix had not commented on the planned lawsuit itself beyond that statement when the source article was published.

Background

The dispute goes back to the start of 2026, when Netflix introduced new dubbing contracts with clauses allowing recordings to be used for AI training. German voice actors boycotted the clause in February, and the VDS took the matter to data-protection authorities in April and filed complaints with Berlin's data protection commissioner and the Federal Cartel Office in September.