A councillor who struggles to speak after developing motor neurone disease (MND) is using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to communicate using his own pre-recorded voice.
Nick Varley, who represents Kippington on Sevenoaks district and town councils, was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disorder in November 2024 after beginning to have difficulty speaking.
"It can be very emotional because your voice is such a big part of you, and no one wants it to sound like Stephen Hawking did," he said.
Shortly after his diagnosis, Varley made recordings of himself speaking, which were used to train the AI to produce an accurate copy of his voice.
The technology has been created by the MND Association and a California-based tech firm called 11Labs.
