An Illinois federal judge has granted Nvidia Corporation’s motion to stay discovery in a class action lawsuit alleging the company used journalists’ and voice actors’ voices to train its artificial intelligence models without consent. The decision delays the discovery process until the court rules on Nvidia’s motion to dismiss the case.
The lawsuit, filed in May 2026, involves seven Illinois residents—including broadcast journalists, podcasters, and voice actors—who claim that Nvidia extracted their voiceprints without permission to develop commercial voice synthesis models such as Magpie TTS, PersonaPlex, and FUGATTO. The plaintiffs allege violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), asserting that Nvidia collected biometric data without providing written notice or obtaining consent, failed to publish a data retention policy, and disseminated voiceprints through open-weight model releases. Additional claims include breaches of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act, the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. ([exhibitai.info](https://exhibitai.info/cases/rogers-v-nvidia/?utm_source=openai))
In his ruling, the judge noted that the plaintiffs could have sought emergency relief if the continued dissemination of the models was an urgent concern. This suggests that the court did not find immediate harm necessitating expedited discovery. ([exhibitai.info](https://exhibitai.info/cases/rogers-v-nvidia/?utm_source=openai))
This case is part of a broader trend of legal actions targeting major technology companies over the use of biometric data without consent. In May 2026, nine coordinated class actions were filed against companies including Adobe, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, ElevenLabs, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Samsung. These lawsuits allege that the companies extracted voiceprints from publicly available recordings to train AI voice models without obtaining the necessary consent, in violation of BIPA. ([fiund.com](https://fiund.com/lawsuits/voiceprint-bipa-class-actions?utm_source=openai))
The outcome of Nvidia’s motion to dismiss will be closely watched, as it could set a precedent for how courts interpret and enforce biometric privacy laws in the context of AI development. Legal professionals and corporations are advised to monitor this case and similar litigation to understand the evolving legal landscape surrounding biometric data and artificial intelligence.