How We Make Impersonated

A note on AI, research, sources and the weirdness of making a show about synthetic media using synthetic media.

Quick answer: Impersonated is a podcast produced by Royall that tells real stories about cloned voices, deepfakes and synthetic identity. It is made with AI. The narrator is an AI voice from ElevenLabs. AI tools help with research, scripting, sound and editing. AI is never treated as a source. Every episode links to the journalism, court filings and records it is built on, and any synthetic or recreated media that could be mistaken for the real thing is labeled.

Impersonated tells real stories from the place where human and artificial start to blur.

That means stories about cloned voices, deepfakes, AI-generated music, synthetic identities, scams, copyright, creativity, ownership and whatever strange thing happens next.

It also means we use some of the technology we cover to make the show.

We think you should know exactly how.

Is Impersonated made with AI?

Yes. AI helped make this.

The narration is AI-generated. Our host, Johnny Kidd, is a voice from ElevenLabs. He is not a clone of a real person. He says so at the end of every episode.

We use AI throughout research and production too. It helps us discover stories, find potential sources, organize large amounts of information, understand technical subjects, develop questions and work through drafts.

There is an obvious irony here.

Some of these technologies are extraordinary creative tools. The same technologies can be used to clone someone's voice, impersonate a real person, manufacture evidence or scam someone out of money.

Both things can be true. That's a large part of why this show exists.

Which AI tools do we use, and for what?

Stage	Tool	What it does for us
Research	ChatGPT Deep Research	Finds stories and sources, pulls together reporting, filings and records into a research file
Scripting	Claude	Helps structure and draft episode scripts from that research
Narration	ElevenLabs	Generates the host's voice
Sound and music	ElevenLabs, Suno	Sound effects and music
Editing, hosting, clips	Riverside	Assembles the episode, publishes it and cuts social clips

A person at Royall reviews every script before it is voiced.

We may experiment with other generative AI and synthetic-media tools. When the stack changes, this page changes, and the date at the top changes with it.

Where do the stories come from?

The research isn't all ours, and we're not going to pretend we discovered every story we cover.

Episodes may be built using journalism, court filings, government records, academic research, company announcements, interviews, videos, podcasts, social posts and other publicly available material.

AI may help us find and understand those sources. AI is not itself a source.

Where possible, we link to the key material behind each episode so you can read it, watch it and make up your own mind.

Unless we explicitly tell you otherwise, do not assume an episode is original reporting by Royall. When someone else did the reporting that made a story possible, they deserve the credit for it.

How will I know if something in an episode is fake?

We'll tell you.

Impersonated is literally a show about things becoming difficult to distinguish from the real thing. So if we use AI-generated, recreated or materially altered media in a way that could reasonably be mistaken for authentic source material, we identify it.

We don't want you wondering whether the fake thing in the podcast about fake things is actually fake.

That's exhausting.

What happens when we get something wrong?

AI gets things wrong. The internet gets things wrong. Sources contradict one another. Stories develop. Context gets missed.

And we can get things wrong too.

We make a good-faith effort to verify what we publish, distinguish allegations from established facts and represent the source material fairly. Transparency means being open to correction, not pretending we're infallible.

If you think we've made an error, missed important context or characterized something unfairly, tell us: hello@royall.ai

Whose opinions are these?

Impersonated contains reporting, analysis, commentary and, occasionally, people having opinions.

Opinions expressed by guests, contributors, interviewees or people in source material are their own. They are not automatically an official position of Royall.

Covering a person, creator, company, product or technology doesn't mean Royall endorses them, is affiliated with them or is accusing them of wrongdoing.

Sometimes we're simply telling a very strange story.

Does the show teach people how to make deepfakes or run scams?

No.

We may discuss how deepfakes are made, how voices are cloned, how impersonation works, how synthetic content spreads and how specific scams happened. We do that because understanding these systems matters.

Impersonated is produced for commentary, reporting, education and entertainment. Nothing on the show is intended to encourage fraud, deception, impersonation or the unauthorized use of someone else's identity, likeness, voice or work.

Please don't be an asshole.

Why is Royall making this?

Because the definition of identity is changing.

Your face can be generated. Your voice can be cloned. Your work can be replicated. An artist doesn't necessarily have to be human. Increasingly, seeing or hearing something isn't enough to establish where it came from.

Those aren't theoretical questions anymore. They're stories happening to real people, creators, companies and industries right now.

Royall is building infrastructure for people to register, manage and protect their identity and the permissions attached to it. Impersonated is where we explore what happens when the technology moves faster than the rules.

You don't have to agree with our conclusions. We'd rather you question them.

Key takeaways

• Impersonated is narrated by an AI voice from ElevenLabs, and says so in every episode.
• AI tools are used for research, scripting, sound and editing. Each one is named on this page.
• AI is a research aid, never a source. Episodes link to the underlying reporting and records.
• Most episodes are built on other people's reporting, and those people get the credit.
• Synthetic or recreated media that could pass as authentic is labeled.
• Corrections go to hello@royall.ai.

FAQ

Who hosts Impersonated? An AI voice called Johnny Kidd, generated with ElevenLabs.

Is Impersonated original journalism? Usually not. Unless an episode says otherwise, it draws on published journalism, court filings, public records and other available material, linked in the episode notes.

Are the stories real? Yes. The show covers real cases. Allegations are described as allegations, and established facts as facts.

Does Impersonated use real people's cloned voices? If an episode includes AI-generated, recreated or altered audio that could be mistaken for authentic material, it is identified as such.

Who produces Impersonated? Royall, a company building infrastructure for people to register, manage and protect their identity.

How do I request a correction or a credit? Email hello@royall.ai.

Something we should know?

If we've made a mistake, missed a credit, used or referenced your work, covered a story you're involved in, or there's something you think we should investigate: hello@royall.ai

And if you've been impersonated, cloned, deepfaked or otherwise found yourself on the wrong side of the human/artificial line, we'd particularly like to hear from you.

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Your face. Your voice. Your likeness. Your rules. Register and protect your identity at Royall.ai.