Eric Dane's ALS Battle Leads to AI Voice Cloning Tech That Restores Identity for Millions

Rebecca Gayheart Dane on caring for her late husband, Eric Dane, and synthetic voices

The actor Eric Dane, who played Dr. Mark Sloan on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, died last month. Dane was 53, and announced he had been diagnosed with ALS last April. The disease affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, robbing a person of their ability to walk, breathe and often speak. Dane's widow, Rebecca Gayheart Dane, told NPR it was devastating to see his voice slip away. "He was witty, acerbic, full of humor, and he always had a great story," Gayheart Dane said. "So, as speaking became harder for him, I watched and witnessed some of his joy fade, and it was really hard and very heartbreaking." She is now working with ElevenLabs, an artificial intelligence company that makes synthetic voice software. The company developed a program that helps people with permanent voice loss replicate their voices, including Eric Dane's. Gayheart Dane spoke with All Things Considered host Juana Summers about her role as a caregiver and her complex feelings about artificial intelligence.

Eric Dane 'Really Dreaded' This ALS Symptom, Rebecca Gayheart Says. Now, It's Shaping His Legacy

Rebecca Gayheart, wife of the late "Grey's Anatomy" actor Eric Dane, remembers when her husband started to lose his voice permanently. For Dane, who died last month at age 53 due to ALS, his voice loss was gradual, "but it was also shocking for us because his voice is so distinct," Gayheart tells TODAY.com. "So, when more of his voice was lost, we would really feel it. And he really felt it." As his illness progressed, Dane lost more and more ways of expressing himself, Gayheart says, leaving him with just his voice and facial expressions. "So, as speaking became harder for him, I watched his spark fade away," she recalls. "It was heartbreaking." But thanks to new technology that creates AI voices for people who've experienced permanent changes to their speech, Dane was able to get some of his agency back amid the later stages of his disease. It was a "profound" moment for the entire family when they heard his AI voice clone, Gayheart says. "It really made him hopeful. ... He was really emotional about it -- we all were, and it was just such a gift." When someone loses speech, it can be difficult because those around them start to speak for them, Gayheart says. "You lose your power when that happens. So for him to be able to reclaim a part of himself with this voice that was created for him was a big deal." She and Dane married in 2004 and separated in 2018, but never divorced. The two remained close through the rest of Dane's life and continued to raise their two daughters, Billie and Georgia, together. The company behind the technology, ElevenLabs, used recordings of Dane's voice to create the AI version. An AI voice clone can be created for free with as little as 30 seconds of material, but gets better with 10 minutes and even better with 30 minutes, Gabi Leibowitz of ElevenLabs tells TODAY.com. The idea started as a small project to help people with ALS, but it has since been used by people with a variety of medical challenges, from cerebral palsy to stroke and brain injuries. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease that causes nerve cells to deteriorate and eventually die. Over time, ALS affects a person's ability to move, speak, swallow and breathe, the Mayo Clinic explains. While there are medications that may help slow its progression, there is no cure for ALS. It's common for ALS patients like Dane to have difficulty speaking, which leads to changes in their voice. In some cases, slow or slurred speech is among the first noticeable symptoms of the disease. For an actor and storyteller like Dane, losing his voice was a "major event," Gayheart says. "His voice was such a huge part of his identity that (losing it) was something he was really dreading," she says. That's why he was so thankful to get to hear his AI voice clone -- and why it gave him a sense of hope. Although Dane wasn't able to put his AI voice to use before his death, Gayheart sees the technology as part of Dane's legacy. The actor passed away in Feb. 2026, almost a year after he publicly revealed his diagnosis for the first time. "He really wanted other people to experience that feeling of knowing that you can still communicate after experiencing voice loss," Gayheart says. The AI voice clone is so accurate in cadence and emotion that it's "almost unbelievable," she adds. At this year's SXSW festival, Gayheart is helping promote ElevenLabs' "11 Voices" project, the first-ever docuseries featuring people with voice loss narrating their own stories using AI. ElevenLabs is also offering its voice restoration technology to 1 million people for free. The partnership is part of how Gayheart is continuing her late husband's legacy. She says she hopes Dane is remembered for "how he showed up for other people, and his advocacy for ALS and the good fight that he fought." "He simply refused to let this disease take away hope, his life, his ability to do things, his friendship, his relationships. He did not want his purpose stripped away by this disease," Gayheart says.