FCC declares AI voice calls subject to TCPA.

FCC rule empowers AGs to prosecute voice cloning scams.

Scammers clone celebrity and politician voices for malicious calls.

Apple Personal Voice aids ALS patients.

Apple Live Speech trains 15 min on-device.

China Media Group AI‑dubbed documentary in English.

AI voice cloning requires ethical guidelines.

FTC awards deepfake detection prizes.

OriginStory, DeFake, AI Detect detect deepfakes.

OpenAI apologized to Scarlett Johansson.

ElevenLabs deepfaked Emma Watson.

AI clones could extort money.

Voice clones used in fake kidnapping scam.

Voice cloning used for Darth Vader.

Voice cloning used for political messaging in India.

AI dubbing makes Mandarin documentary accessible to English.

Training data legal debate: fair use vs permission.

NO FAKEs Act protects artists' voices.

Deepfake detection uses biometrics and spectral analysis.

Regulators propose rules to curb voice cloning scams.

FCC declares AI voice calls subject to TCPA.

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Content: AI-generated voices will be restricted by the FCC for robocalls

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Robocalls are some of the worst things you can see come up on your mobile phone. Most of them are annoying sales pitches, or outright scams. But these days, with AI-generated everything, robocalls have the potential to become more of a problem than they already are.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

AI-generated voices are a real thing, and AI-generated voices can be made effortlessly. Spend any time on YouTube Shorts and you can find ads showing celebrities like Dwayne Johnson and Oprah, hocking federal tax relief and other scams. These YouTube Shorts use AI-generated voices to try to convince you that these celebrities actually endorse the product shown.

Using this method over the phone is far more effective because you don’t have the visual to help your brain discern that it is fake. According to PC Mag, the FCC has confirmed that AI-generated voice calls can “break an existing US law from 1991 that was designed to protect consumers from pre-recorded automated calls.”

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said, “The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the primary law we have to help limit unwanted robocalls. It means that AI tech like voice cloning falls within this law’s existing prohibitions and that calls that use this technology to simulate a human voice are illegal, unless callers have obtained prior express consent.”

According to PC Mag, the FCC’s rule may stop unwanted and spammy robocalls, but it will also affect legit companies that use “AI agents” for certain phone calls. The companies using this technology will then need to receive permission from users before using the technology for their phone calls.

Our AI world is getting wild and soon we may not know what is real and what is not real.

What do you think of AI? The use of AI in phone calls? AI in general? You may comment by using the social media buttons below. Please share on your favorite social media site and tag us on Facebook, X, MeWe, and LinkedIn. Or join our Telegram channel here.

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Content: Moving at rapid speed, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just announced its unanimous adoption of a new Declaratory Ruling finding that voice calls using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated voices fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The ruling takes effect immediately and gives state attorneys general powerful new tools to go after voice cloning scams. Under FCC rules, telemarketers that use robocalls subject to the TCPA are required to obtain prior express written consent from the consumer unless an exemption applies. The TCPA has always prohibited the use of both prerecorded and artificial voices but advances in AI-generated voices have prompted the FCC to specifically address their use.

In recent years, scammers and other parties have begun using AI to create fake and even "cloned" artificial voices, including those of celebrities, politicians, and even a call recipient's family member. In this election season, there has been increasing concern about the use of voice clones to engage in voter suppression schemes.

Concerned about the potential malevolent uses of these AI-generated voice calls, the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in November on the topic of "Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers from Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts." In the NOI, the FCC asked questions regarding the use of "AI-influenced" technologies in robocalling. A coalition of 26 state attorneys general, as well as a telecommunication carrier trade group, strongly urged the FCC to take action to give the attorneys general clear authority to act against AI-generated robocall violators.

The FCC now has made clear that the use of voice cloning in telephone calls and texts falls within the FCC's statutory authority under the TCPA. A major intent of the ruling is to communicate that the TCPA "does not allow for any carve-out of technologies that purport to provide the equivalent of a live agent, thus preventing unscrupulous businesses from attempting to exploit any perceived ambiguity in our TCPA rules."

As FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained, "with this Declaratory Ruling, we will have another tool to go after voice cloning scams and get this junk off the line."

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

FCC rule empowers AGs to prosecute voice cloning scams.

Scammers clone celebrity and politician voices for malicious calls.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

Apple Personal Voice aids ALS patients.

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Content: APPLE
iPhone phones will be able to mimic your voice for conversations
Apple launches unique features on iPhones for people with cognitive disabilities
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Later this year, Apple will enable iPhone and tablet users with cognitive disabilities to deal more easily and independently with Assistive Access by launching a feature that makes speech impaired from speaking through its apps or voice calls on its devices.
It is expected that the new feature will enable individuals who do not speak in writing to speak during calls and conversations using Live Speech; people at risk of losing their ability to speak can also use their personal voice to create a composite sound similar to them to communicate with family and friends.
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For users who are blind or have poor vision, Magnifier mode offers Point and Speak, which identifies text that users point to and read aloud to help them interact with physical objects such as home appliances, Apple announced on Tuesday.
The iPhone and iPad will learn the user ’ s voice after training the device for just 15 minutes.
The Live Speech feature will then use Composite Audio to read a user ’ s written text aloud during phone calls, FaceTime conversations, and even in-person conversations.
People will also be able to save commonly used phrases to use during live conversations.
This feature is one of several that aim to make Apple devices more inclusive for people with impairments in cognition, vision, hearing and movement.
Apple has said that people who may experience situations where they lose their voices over time, such as ALS (ALS), could benefit more from the tools.
Apple ’ s senior director of global access policies and initiatives, Sarah Herlinger, said in a blog post: “Accessibility is part of everything we do at Apple. ”
“These groundbreaking features are designed with feedback from members of disability communities at every step of their development, to support a diverse range of users and help people connect in new ways. ”
The new features are due to be rolled out later this year.
While these tools have the potential to meet a real need, they also come at a time when advances in AI have raised alarms about bad actors using convincing fake audio and video – known as “deep fakes ” – to defraud or mislead the public.
In a blog post, Apple said the Personal Voice feature uses “machine learning on the device to keep users ’ information private and secure. ”
Other tech companies have experimented with using artificial intelligence to replicate sound.
Last year, Amazon said it was updating its Alexa system that would allow the technology to imitate any sound, even if a family member is deceased.
(The feature has not yet been launched.)
In addition to voice features, Apple announced Assistive Access, which combines some of the most popular iOS apps, such as FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, Music, and Phone, into a single call app.
Apple is also updating its Magnifier app for the blind.
It will now include detection mode to help people better interact with physical objects.
The update will allow someone, for example, to hold an iPhone camera in front of the microwave and move their finger through the keyboard while the app labels and advertise the text on the microwave buttons.
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Apple Live Speech trains 15 min on-device.

China Media Group AI‑dubbed documentary in English.

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China Media Group Debuts AI-dubbed English Documentary, Pioneering Global Communication

China Media Group launches its first AI-dubbed English documentary, enhancing global reach and fostering international understanding through advanced AI technology.

Aqsa Younas Rana
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In a groundbreaking move, China Media Group has launched its first AI-dubbed English documentary, marking a significant milestone in the use of artificial intelligence for global media outreach. This innovative approach to dubbing not only showcases the advancements in AI technology but also underscores China's ambitions to foster better international communication and understanding. Through this initiative, the documentary, originally produced in Mandarin, has been made accessible to a broader English-speaking audience, enhancing its global reach and impact.

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Revolutionizing Content Accessibility

The application of AI in dubbing the documentary into English reflects a growing trend in leveraging technology to bridge language barriers. Similar to the educational advancements discussed in 'Voice Cloning in Education: Bridging Language Gaps in Learning Environments,' this initiative by China Media Group capitalizes on the potential of AI voice cloning technology. By generating lifelike digital replicas of human voices, the documentary's AI-dubbed version maintains the authenticity of the original narration while making it understandable for English-speaking viewers. This technological leap not only improves accessibility but also ensures the delivery of content with emotional depth and cultural nuances intact.

The launch of this AI-dubbed documentary serves as a testament to China's commitment to enhancing global dialogue and cultural exchange. By removing language barriers, China Media Group is effectively broadening the documentary's audience, enabling people from different parts of the world to gain insights into Chinese culture, history, and perspectives. This initiative aligns with the broader objective of promoting mutual understanding and respect among diverse global communities, paving the way for more inclusive and informed international discourse.

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Setting New Standards in Media Production

China Media Group's pioneering use of AI technology in documentary dubbing sets new standards for media production and distribution. It illustrates the potential of AI to transform traditional media practices, making content more accessible and engaging for global audiences. As AI technology continues to evolve, it is likely to open up further possibilities for creating multilingual content, thereby enhancing the reach and impact of media across borders. This development also raises important considerations regarding the ethical use of voice cloning technology, underscoring the need for guidelines that ensure its responsible application in media and beyond.

As we reflect on the implications of this technological advancement, it becomes clear that AI-dubbed media content holds significant promise for fostering international understanding and cooperation. By making diverse cultural and educational materials available in multiple languages, we can build a more connected and informed world. The initiative by China Media Group not only highlights the practical applications of AI in media but also invites us to contemplate the future of global communication in an increasingly digital age.

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AI voice cloning requires ethical guidelines.

FTC awards deepfake detection prizes.

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The government announced winners of a contest to tell real voices from deepfake audio

The federal government is trying to promote efforts to counter so-called audio deepfakes by awarding four organizations prizes for developing technologies to distinguish between authentic human speech and audio generated by artificial intelligence.

The prizes, awarded Monday by the Federal Trade Commission, come as the agency has issued warnings to consumers about scams using AI-generated voices and as concerns grow about the influence of deepfakes on this year's elections.

One winner, OriginStory, created by people including researchers at Arizona State University, uses sensors to detect things that humans do such as breathing, motion and heartbeat information.

"We have this very unique speech production mechanism. And so by sensing it in parallel with the acoustic signal, you can verify that the speech is coming from a human" Visar Berisha, a professor at ASU's College of Health Solutions who was part of the team, told NPR in an interview.

OriginStory's technology leverages sensors in existing hardware, though it's not available in all recording equipment - newer Android phones and iPhones don't have them. Berisha says they are focusing on hardware that already can use it.

Another, DeFake, made by Ning Zhang, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, injects data into recordings of real voices so AI-generated voice clones don't sound like the real person.

Zhang says his technology was inspired from earlier tools developed by University of Chicago researchers that place hidden changes in images so that artificial intelligence algorithms that try to train themselves on the images cannot mimic them.

A third, AI Detect, uses AI to catch AI. It's made by startup Omni Speech, and its CEO David Przygoda says their machine learning algorithm extracts features from audio clips like inflection and uses that to teach the models to tell the difference between real and fake audio.

"They have a really hard time transitioning between different emotions, whereas a human being can be amused in one sentence and distraught in the next." says Przygoda.

In an FTC video, the company says its tool is over 99.9% accurate, but Przygoda says it's not yet ready for independent testing, and the contest judges did not test the submissions under real world conditions.

The three winners will split a cash prize of $35,000. Another company, Pindrop Security, received recognition for its work but will not receive cash because it's a larger organization.

In a statement, the company says the FTC's award, "recognizes and validates that a decade of work Pindrop has put in to study the problem of voice clones and other deepfakes."

There are a number of existing commercial detection tools that rely on machine learning, but factors such as sound quality and media format can make them less reliable, and detectors need to constantly be trained on new deepfake generators to catch the audio they produce.

Berisha says this is a losing game in the long term, referencing the challenges that detectors of AI-generated text faced. OpenAI took down its own detector months after it launched, citing poor results.

"I think we're headed in exactly the same direction for voices. And so if AI-based detectors work now, I think they'll work less well six months from now and less well a year from now, two years from now. And at some point, they will stop working altogether."

This drove him to develop a process that authenticates human voices as words are being spoken.

Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission bannedAI-enabled robocalls. Synthetic audio company ElevenLabs has a tool to detect its own product and is calling on other producers of synthetic voices to do the same. The European Union recently passed and "AI act' and state legislatures in the U.S.are passing lawsthat regulate deepfakes. Researchers, detection software makers and the FTC say that technology like this can't be the only solution to the challenges posed by generative AI tools.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Huo Jingnan
Huo Jingnan (she/her) is an assistant producer on NPR's investigations team.

OriginStory, DeFake, AI Detect detect deepfakes.

OpenAI apologized to Scarlett Johansson.

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Content: OpenAI's Johansson gaffe pushes voice cloning into spotlight

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone

By AFP

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Scarlett Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her". — Reuters file

Published: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:51 PM

Last updated: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:52 PM

OpenAI was forced to apologise to actor Scarlett Johansson last week for using her voice -- or something very similar -- on its latest chatbot, throwing the spotlight on to voice-cloning tech.

Although OpenAI denied the voice they used was Johansson's, their case was not helped by CEO Sam Altman flagging the new model with a one-word message on social media -- "Her".

Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her", which Altman has previously said is his favourite film about the technology.

Right from the start, AI voice cloning has proved problematic.

Last year, British firm Elevenlabs went viral for all the wrong reasons when it released its voice-cloning software.

Internet pranksters immediately began pushing out deepfaked celebrities -- Harry Potter star Emma Watson was shown reading Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year becoming far more realistic and nuanced.

Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, told AFP it was largely down to a program called Tortoise that was released two years ago.

The program's developers threw thousands of hours of voice data into their model in an unstructured way and discovered it not only learnt what to say but how to say it.

"That was a pretty big paradigm shift," Riparbelli said on the sidelines of last week's VivaTech conference in Paris.

Tortoise was an open source program and Elevenlabs was the first to go to market using it.

OpenAI uses similar systems though they do not release any details.

Much of the controversy around voice cloning has focused on concerns over people misusing the software.

But the claim against OpenAI is unusual because it is the company itself accused of playing fast and loose.

"It was very unfortunate that OpenAI did that -- really not very good," Katya Laine, CEO of TALKR.ai, told AFP at VivaTech.

"If they actually cloned her voice without her knowing then I think that's very very bad," said Riparbelli.

The two entrepreneurs are among hundreds harnessing AI voice programs for uses that they argue will make companies more efficient.

Laine's firm provides virtual voice assistants -- essentially AI customer service agents.

She said her firm's system could now resolve 25 to 30 percent of calls without any human involvement.

Synthesia specialises in video avatars, which Riparbelli said allowed any office worker to turn text or slides into a video performed by a realistic AI.

Both Riparbelli and Laine allow their clients to use their own avatars, off-the-shelf products or those supplied by the likes of OpenAI and Elevenlabs.

Riparbelli said Synthesia used actors whose likenesses and voices were licensed for two years with an option to renew after the initial period.

The problems arise if actors' voices are used without their consent.

The fiasco overshadowed a developer conference in Paris last week when OpenAI was showing off a suite of new tools.

In front of a big screen in an auditorium, Romain Huet, OpenAI's Head of Developer Experience, breezily chatted into his phone.

Seconds later, his short voice sample had been processed and could be heard commentating over a generated video -- in five languages.

The demonstration showed how quickly the field is moving, but the headlines had already been written.

The Washington Post asked in a newsletter "How dumb is OpenAI?", other commentators were suggesting wunderkind Altman was nothing more than a huckster.

Nonetheless, Riparbelli was open to OpenAI's argument that they had used another actor who just sounded liked Johansson.

"If it's not her but someone who sounds a lot like her... where do you draw that line," Riparbelli asked.

"If they're not allowed to use someone who sounds a lot like her, then it sets a very odd precedent."

More news from World

ElevenLabs deepfaked Emma Watson.

AI clones could extort money.

What do cybersecurity experts believe about the use of synthesized voice?

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

Voice clones used in fake kidnapping scam.

Title:

Content: AI clones child’s voice in fake kidnapping scam

‘I never doubted for one second it was her,’ mother says

Anthony Cuthbertson
Thursday 13 April 2023 12:34
Comments

A mother has said she was “100 per cent” convinced by an AI voice clone of her daughter that scammers used in a faked kidnapping attempt.

Jennifer DeStefano from Arizona picked up a call from an unknown number and heard what she believed to be her 15-year-old daughter Brie “sobbing”.

The voice on the other end of the line said, “mom, I messed up”, before a male voice took over and made threatening demands.

“This man gets on the phone, and he’s like, ‘listen here, I’ve got your daughter’,” Ms DeStafano told local news show WKYT.

The apparent kidnapper told the mother: “You call the police, you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs, I’m going to have my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.”

In the background, Ms DeStefano said she could hear her daughter saying “help me, mom, please help me” and crying.

“It was 100 per cent her voice,” Ms DeStefano said.

“It was never a question of who is this? It was completely her voice, it was her inflection, it was the way she would have cried – I never doubted for one second it was her. That was the freaky part that really got me to my core.”

The apparent kidnapper demanded $1 million for the daughter to be released, before lowering the figure to $50,000. Ms DeStefano only realised that her daughter was safe after a friend called her husband and confirmed that she was safe.

The scammer, who police are still investigating, appears to have used artificial intelligence voice clone technology, which has become increasingly competent in recent years at mimicking people’s voices.

It is also relatively easy to access and use, with AI tools freely available on the internet.

AI-generated voices have already been used in films to replicate actors like James Earl Jones who voiced the original Darth Vader character in the Star Wars franchise.

It has also been touted as a way for authors to produce audiobooks without spending hours in a studio reading their work.

The technology has also raised fears that it could be misused by scammers or people attempting to create deepfake videos, with one voice clone startup warning that it could be “harmful in the wrong hands”.

In a press release last year, the firm Respeecher said: “The widespread attention and adoption of deepfake technologies will accelerate the need to regulate the use of the technology.”

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What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

Voice cloning used for Darth Vader.

Eleven Labs is extending its voice cloning services for which industries?

Voice cloning used for political messaging in India.

Title:

Content: Lok Sabha polls: How GenAI is rewriting political campaigning strategies

GenAI is being widely employed by political parties and candidates for a personalised approach to voters

Illustration: Ajay Mohanty

RangoliAnushka BhardwajBoris Pradhan New Delhi
Generative artificial intelligence is making a serious impact on political campaigns in India, with instances of AI-generated content being shared by parties on both sides of the political divide. These include K T Rama Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) campaigning for the Congress, audio and video messages featuring deceased leaders J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi, and a viral song video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As India heads to the Lok Sabha polls, GenAI-driven campaigns are gaining traction, especially given that over half the population uses at least one social media networking site. “The introduction of GenAI in poll campaigns has led to a significant increase in the re-personification of candidates,” noted Preetham Venkky, chief digital officer at DDB Mudra Group, a marketing agency.

Echoing the observation, Diggaj Mogra, a political consultant and director at Jarvis Technology and Strategy Consulting, said personalised audio messages are in high demand due to their relatability, scalability, and cost efficiency.

GenAI-driven content in politics has witnessed a sharp uptick since October-November 2023, after a few videos, including one featuring the late Karunanidhi, went viral recently. “Initially, we used to get only 1-2 requests in a year. But during October-November last year, such requests surged to more than a hundred,” said Divyendra Singh Jadoun, founder, The Indian Deepfaker, a synthetic media company.

Overcoming the language barrier

The Indian Deepfaker offers voice-cloning services in 117 different languages. Jadoun explained: “The calls are made by a conversational AI agent, giving the impression that the leader is making a direct conversation with the voter, by using his/her name.”

With a diverse voter base and a wide range of local issues and interests, AI-generated content is helping politicians to be omnipresent. “Voice cloning can now address each issue mentioned in the manifesto, removing language and knowledge barriers,” observed Venkky.

Vaibhav Walia, chairman of the communication war-room 2024 for the Congress, revealed the plans to translate Rahul Gandhi’s speeches into almost eight different languages using GenAI and machine learning (ML). He added that AI is being used not only for content creation but also for reaching the target audience.

Easing the cost burden

Also, easy accessibility, scalability, and mass production have cut down the cost of campaigning, especially for independent candidates and those from smaller parties.

Senthil Nayagam, founder of Muonium AI, a Chennai-based visual effects studio, said that parties pay approximately Rs 15-20 per video targeting a particular voter. However, the cost may vary depending on the level of personalisation in the content. Jadoun noted that a full campaign, including voice cloning, a digital avatar of the leader, and social media dissemination, can be designed under Rs 40-45 lakh with the help of GenAI.

“About 80 per cent of the work we do is AI-driven. We have a small team of less than 10 people. AI has cut down my labour costs by 70 per cent,” said Nayagam.

Tool on trial

Despite its cost efficiency and high level of personalisation, GenAI is still being used as an experimental tool by political parties. Abbin Theepura, a political strategist and founder of Politique Marquer, believes that “this Lok Sabha election is more of a trial for GenAI content.” He explained: “Our AI model helps us analyse data for creating accurate advertisements. It has reduced the hours we used to spend on excel-sheets but the groundwork is very much there. Our team collects the data and AI interprets it.”

The wild West

Tech giants and GenAI platforms, including Meta, Google, and OpenAI, are in discussions with the Election Commission of India about monitoring AI-generated content. However, an official framework is still largely absent. Preetham Venkky suggested that each social media platform needs to build a stronger mechanism to regulate the use of GenAI, though he noted that this goal has not been achieved for the current poll season.

Jadoun explained that customised phone calls collect data, such as location and age. This data, along with local concerns and recommendations, can be used by political parties to plan for welfare programmes.

While startups and political parties have their own conditions and guidelines for using GenAI, there is a lack of standardised measures. Jadoun revealed that his company rejected over 50 requests in November from customers who wanted to edit audio and video content to disparage political rivals, some of which contained explicit content. “But some firms agree to such conditions at a very low cost,” he added.

Changing landscape

- Easy accessibility, scalability, and mass production with the help of AI have cut down the cost of campaigning, especially for independent candidates

- Rs 40-45 lakh for a full political campaign

- 117 languages offered in voice-cloning services

- 70% cut in labour costs of firms

- Rs 15-20 per video targeting a particular voter

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Mar 17 2024 | 10:40 PM IST

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Training data legal debate: fair use vs permission.

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Content: I taught "AI Chen Shani" to sing so lifelike, she said that copyright needs to be protected urgently.
Graphic / Mirror Weekly
AI models are trained to produce the voices of specific people. Last year, the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Laboratory teamed up with singer Shani Chen to create a single “teach me how to be your lover ” using an AI generation tool.
At the beginning of the release, it was deceived by many people in the industry. It was later learned that the original song was not Chen Shani herself, but an AI singing voice trained by the engineers with her song data from the past 20 years.
Unfortunately, technology brings progress and convenience, but it is always abused by those who want to.
A few months after the release of the above AI single, someone put Sun Yanzi ’ s data on the Internet, and anyone who uploaded a clean voice can replace and imitate Sun Yanzi ’ s singing voice.
Later, Shani Chen had the opportunity to communicate with lawyers and learned that at present, humans only have the right to personality, and the law obviously cannot keep up with the changes of the times.
Sony, Universal and Warner joined forces with the Recording Industry Association of America to sue AI companies Suno and Udio for using their works to train music generative AI systems, which they consider a massive copyright infringement.
[Advertisement] Please continue reading...
Not only did the musicians feel threatened, but the image company Getty Image also sued Stability AI for training with their images; the New York Times sued Open AI and Microsoft for unauthorized training of AI models with their content, and Open AI fought back against each other ’ s infringing accusations.
The legal disputes surrounding AI have surfaced, but can the materials currently used by generative AI in the training phase be considered fair use or must be authorized?
Opinions remain divided.
Creators can only hope that the government will step up to respond to the situation, as Shani Chen said: “Many of the rights of natural persons are in urgent need of legal protection. ”
More Mirror Weekly News
【 Cultural AI Course 1 】 The content industry has taken the tide of technology to become a trend expert exposes the copyright dispute of generative AI
[Cultural AI Conducted 2] Using their own content training models, they use AI drawing technology to improve animation quality
【 Culture AI Conducted 3 】 Promote the art of using new technology to create immersive content dual domain and want to let AI do 1 thing
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NO FAKEs Act protects artists' voices.

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Content: The Future Is Here
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AI This Week: Can AI's Environmental Impact Be Justified?

A new report shows the massive energy needs of AI systems. Plus: a look at how the music industry is fighting AI voice clones.

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Headlines This Week

  • A new report from Politico suggests a “billionaire-backed network” of Silicon Valley-linked AI “advisors” are working to control the regulatory agenda in Washington D.C. Boy, I sure wish stuff like that were illegal instead of just business-as-usual.
  • Despite apparently having lobbying money aplenty, it looks like the AI industry is still struggling to monetize some of its platforms. The Wall Street Journal reports that some major AI platforms, like Microsoft’s Github Copilot, have been hemorrhaging money.
  • Last but not least: A newly introduced draft bill would institute protections for musical artists against AI. We spoke with a music industry executive about what the policy could mean for his business.

The Top Story: AI’s Growing Environmental Impact

One of the ongoing problems connected to the AI industry is just how much power it takes to run its systems. The pursuit of enough juice to run the high-octane algorithms behind apps like Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT is causing concern even among AI’s biggest proponents. Now, a new study shows the electrical resources needed for the growing AI industry could make its environmental impact even worse than previously thought.

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The study, authored by Alex de Vries, who is a PhD candidate at the VU Amsterdam School of Business and Economics, claims that the AI industry’s energy needs may soon match those of a small country. “Given the expected production in the coming few years, by 2027 newly manufactured AI devices will be responsible for as much electricity consumption as my home country, the Netherlands,” de Vries told Insider this week. “This is also in the same range as the electricity consumption of countries like Sweden or Argentina.”

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While the rate of electricity consumption in the tech industry has remained relatively steady for years, de Vries says that the advent of the AI chatbot wars between tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, may have spawned a new era. De Vries’ study looks specifically at the electricity consumption of the AI sector as it applies to something called the “inference phase” of AI production. While most environmental impact studies have so far focused on the amount of energy it takes to train large language models like GPT-4, less attention has been paid to “inferencing,” which is the process by which language models produce new information as the result of prompts. This phase of energy consumption can be massive and, sometimes, accounts for a majority of energy expended during the AI life cycle, de Vries writes. Due to the potential ballooning nature of AI energy needs over the next several years, the scholar argues that developers “focus [not only] on optimizing AI, but also to critically consider the necessity of using AI in the first place.”

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De Vries’ study, like a number of other prominent environmental impact studies that have been published recently, begs the question: in an age of climate change and accelerating environmental distress, can generative AI really be justified? I mean, do we really need ChatGPT, automated email-writing, and AI stickers? Or are we killing the environment needlessly for too little in trade off?

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At best, these platforms offer increased convenience for consumers and some cost savings for corporations, but—for now—that’s about it. Much of the mystification around AI has helped hide the fact that generative AI technologies aren’t—in many cases—particularly revolutionary and, in some cases, aren’t even new. Sure, there are some novel scientific applications of AI that, once refined, could have a major impact. But it would be hard to argue that those applications are the ones getting the lion’s share of attention or resources. Mostly, it’s stuff like ChatGPT that hogs the spotlight (and venture capital).

When viewed through the lens of the technology’s massive environmental impact, it seems hard to justify what is little more than an over-hyped form of content automation. Better deepfakes aren’t worth killing the planet over.

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The Interview: Mitch Glazier on the Music Industry’s Fraught Relationship to AI

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This week we spoke with Mitch Glazier, the Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, which lobbies on behalf of the music industry. RIAA is supporting a newly introduced piece of legislation that seeks to institute legal protections against the use of AI to replicate the visual or audio likenesses of artists. In recent months, there’s been  an explosion of AI “deepfake” content that blatantly rips off well-known musicians and celebrities. The  Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act, which is currently a discussion draft bill, would enshrine a number of legal protections for artists who don’t want their visual or audio likenesses used in unauthorized deepfakes. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What role did RIAA have in connection to this bill and what do you hope this bill achieves?

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We were one of several groups that were asked to give input so that they could develop the bill. SAG-AFTRA was also heavily involved. The idea was to create federal legislation because all of the protections for name, image, likeness and voice are in the states right now—and they’re all different.

What is it about AI that makes it a threat to your industry (the music business)? What’s the problem with this technology?

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The problem really isn’t the technology. AI can be licensed for a variety of great purposes and uses. The problem is when AI is made based on a particular artist’s voice or image without consent, credit, and compensation. Basically, what the bill says is, ‘The technology’s great and if an artist wants to license the use of their essence—their voice, their likeness—that’s they’re choice. But what you can’t do is clone their voice without their permission.’ It’s just a basic right that exists for all other types of property—and that should exist here. It should be up to the artist to decide whether or not they want to allow you to use their image or their voice.

So it seems like this legislation actually opens the door for more AI music but the idea is that, if a particular artist is involved in an AI or a deepfake production, they would have to get credit and, presumably, get paid, right?

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Well, the bill says “authorized,” so the artist would have to authorize it. If they want to negotiate compensation they can. Some may not want to. But the key is that “authorization” part. The author has to say, “Yes, you can use my voice, my image.” If they don’t say yes, you can’t do it.

What are your hopes for the passage of the bill? It seems like there are some pretty prominent Senators supporting it.

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We’re very optimistic. This issue goes beyond the music and entertainment industry and it goes beyond the issue of art. It relates to every individual’s right to control their own essence, for lack of a better term. We’ve been encouraged by great bipartisan support right off the bat. To get two Democrats and two Republicans—including the chairman of the Intellectual Property Subcommittee (Amy Klobuchar D-Minnesota)—to put out this discussion draft and to do it in a way in which they’re inviting people to respond and come into the conversation, is a great sign.

Catch up on all of Gizmodo’s AI news here, or see all the latest news here. For daily updates, subscribe to the free Gizmodo newsletter.

Deepfake detection uses biometrics and spectral analysis.

Title:

Content: Expressionkaspersky.com
What are the mysteries of deep sonic falsification?
The spread of artificial intelligence and easy access to tools capable of altering the truth have led to the emergence of one of the most shocking and disturbing digital manipulation techniques, “deepfake. ”
Deep fakes make it possible to create fake videos, photos and sounds that show individuals saying or doing things they never said or did, and although the most popular version until recently was video, deep fakes are gaining importance day by day.
A historical overview
The first major program to bring the potential of deep voice counterfeiting to the general public was Adobe Voco in 2016, which used artificial intelligence to mimic a person ’ s voice from a short recording.
emoticalipwatchdog.com
The software was scrapped after it was found that it could be used to create false, misleading and dangerous sounds, and since then, advances in neural network technology have enabled increasingly realistic and convincing audio falsifications.
At present, we can find many applications and tools online that use this technology to create fake sounds, where Microsoft has launched an artificial intelligence model called VALL-E that can imitate the human voice with a recording of only three seconds.
Deep sonic falsification
Deep voice falsification aims to create an audio model capable of replicating the actual speaker ’ s voice, but the model must be trained through the speaker ’ s audio recordings, in order to be ready to generate an artificial sound similar to that of the original person.
expressiontelegraph.co.uk
Deep learning and natural language processing techniques are used to analyze the unique patterns and characteristics of sound, some of which include pitch, speed, rhythm and tone, and artificial intelligence uses recordings to deliver an original sound, creating a new audio recording that mimics the speaker ’ s voice to a full degree.
How to Create Deep Audio Counterfeiting
Fake deep voice is created using AI-powered text to speech technology, and this can be done with just a few minutes of recorded speech to train an AI speech model, which can read any text with the target voice.
expressionveritonevoice.com
The original recorded sound must be of sufficient quality to sample the unique characteristics of the speaker ’ s voice, after which AI algorithms analyze the patterns and characteristics of the original sound and learn to mimic them.
This can be done with male and female voices and adaptation to the identity of the speaker, the result is a fake voice recording that mimics the voice of the original person, and in addition to generating speech, these instruments can simulate sounds such as breathing and mouth movements.
Initiatives to combat voice counterfeiting
There are initiatives aimed at combating this increasingly prevalent voice counterfeiting, and some technologies can detect these counterfeit products, such as voice biometrics, an authentication method that uses a person ’ s unique voice pattern to verify their identity.
expressionclt.nliu.ac.in
This pattern includes characteristics such as tone and pitch of the voice, speech speed, and pronunciation, and to use voice biometrics, a person's voice must be captured, after which, its unique characteristics are analyzed as well as the length of the words.
Spectroscopy can also be used, consisting of analyzing acoustic signals to detect unique sound patterns that are difficult to replicate in deep fakes.
There are also tools that can detect the digital traces present in deep voice fakes, because the latter fails to accurately simulate all the variables of the actual voice recording, and therefore, deep fakes may contain breaks in sound or background noise that differ from those expected in the original sound.
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Regulators propose rules to curb voice cloning scams.

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Content: NewsLocal News

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Convincing 'deepfake' scams mimic voices using AI to try and get money

Posted at 6:35 AM, May 23, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-23 08:35:34-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Scammers are getting smarter with ways to try and trick everyday people and the FBI warns that the newest scam clones voices in order to demand money.

It's a trick that is all too familiar, but with modern technology, it can be harder to determine what's fake and what's real.

"I've had individuals [call and say', 'We've got your son down here in Mexico and would you pay so much money to get him out,'" explained Robert Brundige of Salt Lake City.

Fraudsters will fake a dire situation, such as a medical emergency or intense crisis, then call a loved one, asking for money.

Recently, Utahns have reported getting calls where there are sound effects playing in the background, making a dire situation more believable.

Melissa Goodman was targeted by the scammers and said the fake call was believable.

"There's a person in the background, screaming, crying, hyperventilating. He thought it was me," Goodman explained. "They knew our names, they were calling us by my name, by his name."

Officials with the Taylorsville Police Department have heard about these types of scams from other local departments, where even real recordings are part of the scheme.

"The people did think that their child was with the kidnappers cause they had some kind of audio from a video or something like that," Lt. Aaron Cheshire explained.

The FBI warns that we're entering a new era where AI is used for scams and the result is shocking.

"There's no turning back the clock on this," said Jason Wiese, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah for the School of Computing. "Now that the technology is out there, even if you pass laws, it's not very easy to actually reign this in."

Already in 2023, the world has seen a boom in AI and the technology is so good, it's even stumping internet pros.

An image or recording that's "convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said" is called a "deepfake."

The only "tell" for these deepfake images and recording is that they can look and sound a little robotic but as technology improves, so will the scams.

"Even if there's a 'tell' today, it may not be something that exists tomorrow as the technology continues to improve," Wiese explained.

The Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services is constantly educating older Utahns on what to watch out for.

"The best thing to do is hang up the phone and then call that loved one back from your cellphone on their saved contact information," explained Afton January with the department.

So, if you post videos on public social media accounts, be aware that someone could use that audio to trick your loved ones.

"They are often the targets of these types of scams," January said. "And it's really important that we protect them."

But by being aware of the scams and what to watch out for, Utahns of all ages can be prepared for any scam that may come their way.


FCC declares AI voice calls subject to TCPA.

FCC rule empowers AGs to prosecute voice cloning scams.

Scammers clone celebrity and politician voices for malicious calls.

Apple Personal Voice aids ALS patients.

Apple Live Speech trains 15 min on-device.

China Media Group AI‑dubbed documentary in English.

AI voice cloning requires ethical guidelines.

FTC awards deepfake detection prizes.

OriginStory, DeFake, AI Detect detect deepfakes.

OpenAI apologized to Scarlett Johansson.

ElevenLabs deepfaked Emma Watson.

AI clones could extort money.

Voice clones used in fake kidnapping scam.

Voice cloning used for Darth Vader.

Voice cloning used for political messaging in India.

AI dubbing makes Mandarin documentary accessible to English.

Training data legal debate: fair use vs permission.

NO FAKEs Act protects artists' voices.

Deepfake detection uses biometrics and spectral analysis.

Regulators propose rules to curb voice cloning scams.

FCC declares AI voice calls subject to TCPA.

Title:

Content: AI-generated voices will be restricted by the FCC for robocalls

|
,

Robocalls are some of the worst things you can see come up on your mobile phone. Most of them are annoying sales pitches, or outright scams. But these days, with AI-generated everything, robocalls have the potential to become more of a problem than they already are.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

AI-generated voices are a real thing, and AI-generated voices can be made effortlessly. Spend any time on YouTube Shorts and you can find ads showing celebrities like Dwayne Johnson and Oprah, hocking federal tax relief and other scams. These YouTube Shorts use AI-generated voices to try to convince you that these celebrities actually endorse the product shown.

Using this method over the phone is far more effective because you don’t have the visual to help your brain discern that it is fake. According to PC Mag, the FCC has confirmed that AI-generated voice calls can “break an existing US law from 1991 that was designed to protect consumers from pre-recorded automated calls.”

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said, “The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the primary law we have to help limit unwanted robocalls. It means that AI tech like voice cloning falls within this law’s existing prohibitions and that calls that use this technology to simulate a human voice are illegal, unless callers have obtained prior express consent.”

According to PC Mag, the FCC’s rule may stop unwanted and spammy robocalls, but it will also affect legit companies that use “AI agents” for certain phone calls. The companies using this technology will then need to receive permission from users before using the technology for their phone calls.

Our AI world is getting wild and soon we may not know what is real and what is not real.

What do you think of AI? The use of AI in phone calls? AI in general? You may comment by using the social media buttons below. Please share on your favorite social media site and tag us on Facebook, X, MeWe, and LinkedIn. Or join our Telegram channel here.

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Content: Moving at rapid speed, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just announced its unanimous adoption of a new Declaratory Ruling finding that voice calls using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated voices fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The ruling takes effect immediately and gives state attorneys general powerful new tools to go after voice cloning scams. Under FCC rules, telemarketers that use robocalls subject to the TCPA are required to obtain prior express written consent from the consumer unless an exemption applies. The TCPA has always prohibited the use of both prerecorded and artificial voices but advances in AI-generated voices have prompted the FCC to specifically address their use.

In recent years, scammers and other parties have begun using AI to create fake and even "cloned" artificial voices, including those of celebrities, politicians, and even a call recipient's family member. In this election season, there has been increasing concern about the use of voice clones to engage in voter suppression schemes.

Concerned about the potential malevolent uses of these AI-generated voice calls, the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in November on the topic of "Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers from Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts." In the NOI, the FCC asked questions regarding the use of "AI-influenced" technologies in robocalling. A coalition of 26 state attorneys general, as well as a telecommunication carrier trade group, strongly urged the FCC to take action to give the attorneys general clear authority to act against AI-generated robocall violators.

The FCC now has made clear that the use of voice cloning in telephone calls and texts falls within the FCC's statutory authority under the TCPA. A major intent of the ruling is to communicate that the TCPA "does not allow for any carve-out of technologies that purport to provide the equivalent of a live agent, thus preventing unscrupulous businesses from attempting to exploit any perceived ambiguity in our TCPA rules."

As FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained, "with this Declaratory Ruling, we will have another tool to go after voice cloning scams and get this junk off the line."

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

FCC rule empowers AGs to prosecute voice cloning scams.

Scammers clone celebrity and politician voices for malicious calls.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

Apple Personal Voice aids ALS patients.

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Content: APPLE
iPhone phones will be able to mimic your voice for conversations
Apple launches unique features on iPhones for people with cognitive disabilities
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Later this year, Apple will enable iPhone and tablet users with cognitive disabilities to deal more easily and independently with Assistive Access by launching a feature that makes speech impaired from speaking through its apps or voice calls on its devices.
It is expected that the new feature will enable individuals who do not speak in writing to speak during calls and conversations using Live Speech; people at risk of losing their ability to speak can also use their personal voice to create a composite sound similar to them to communicate with family and friends.
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For users who are blind or have poor vision, Magnifier mode offers Point and Speak, which identifies text that users point to and read aloud to help them interact with physical objects such as home appliances, Apple announced on Tuesday.
The iPhone and iPad will learn the user ’ s voice after training the device for just 15 minutes.
The Live Speech feature will then use Composite Audio to read a user ’ s written text aloud during phone calls, FaceTime conversations, and even in-person conversations.
People will also be able to save commonly used phrases to use during live conversations.
This feature is one of several that aim to make Apple devices more inclusive for people with impairments in cognition, vision, hearing and movement.
Apple has said that people who may experience situations where they lose their voices over time, such as ALS (ALS), could benefit more from the tools.
Apple ’ s senior director of global access policies and initiatives, Sarah Herlinger, said in a blog post: “Accessibility is part of everything we do at Apple. ”
“These groundbreaking features are designed with feedback from members of disability communities at every step of their development, to support a diverse range of users and help people connect in new ways. ”
The new features are due to be rolled out later this year.
While these tools have the potential to meet a real need, they also come at a time when advances in AI have raised alarms about bad actors using convincing fake audio and video – known as “deep fakes ” – to defraud or mislead the public.
In a blog post, Apple said the Personal Voice feature uses “machine learning on the device to keep users ’ information private and secure. ”
Other tech companies have experimented with using artificial intelligence to replicate sound.
Last year, Amazon said it was updating its Alexa system that would allow the technology to imitate any sound, even if a family member is deceased.
(The feature has not yet been launched.)
In addition to voice features, Apple announced Assistive Access, which combines some of the most popular iOS apps, such as FaceTime, Messages, Camera, Photos, Music, and Phone, into a single call app.
Apple is also updating its Magnifier app for the blind.
It will now include detection mode to help people better interact with physical objects.
The update will allow someone, for example, to hold an iPhone camera in front of the microwave and move their finger through the keyboard while the app labels and advertise the text on the microwave buttons.
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Apple Live Speech trains 15 min on-device.

China Media Group AI‑dubbed documentary in English.

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China Media Group Debuts AI-dubbed English Documentary, Pioneering Global Communication

China Media Group launches its first AI-dubbed English documentary, enhancing global reach and fostering international understanding through advanced AI technology.

Aqsa Younas Rana
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In a groundbreaking move, China Media Group has launched its first AI-dubbed English documentary, marking a significant milestone in the use of artificial intelligence for global media outreach. This innovative approach to dubbing not only showcases the advancements in AI technology but also underscores China's ambitions to foster better international communication and understanding. Through this initiative, the documentary, originally produced in Mandarin, has been made accessible to a broader English-speaking audience, enhancing its global reach and impact.

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Revolutionizing Content Accessibility

The application of AI in dubbing the documentary into English reflects a growing trend in leveraging technology to bridge language barriers. Similar to the educational advancements discussed in 'Voice Cloning in Education: Bridging Language Gaps in Learning Environments,' this initiative by China Media Group capitalizes on the potential of AI voice cloning technology. By generating lifelike digital replicas of human voices, the documentary's AI-dubbed version maintains the authenticity of the original narration while making it understandable for English-speaking viewers. This technological leap not only improves accessibility but also ensures the delivery of content with emotional depth and cultural nuances intact.

The launch of this AI-dubbed documentary serves as a testament to China's commitment to enhancing global dialogue and cultural exchange. By removing language barriers, China Media Group is effectively broadening the documentary's audience, enabling people from different parts of the world to gain insights into Chinese culture, history, and perspectives. This initiative aligns with the broader objective of promoting mutual understanding and respect among diverse global communities, paving the way for more inclusive and informed international discourse.

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Setting New Standards in Media Production

China Media Group's pioneering use of AI technology in documentary dubbing sets new standards for media production and distribution. It illustrates the potential of AI to transform traditional media practices, making content more accessible and engaging for global audiences. As AI technology continues to evolve, it is likely to open up further possibilities for creating multilingual content, thereby enhancing the reach and impact of media across borders. This development also raises important considerations regarding the ethical use of voice cloning technology, underscoring the need for guidelines that ensure its responsible application in media and beyond.

As we reflect on the implications of this technological advancement, it becomes clear that AI-dubbed media content holds significant promise for fostering international understanding and cooperation. By making diverse cultural and educational materials available in multiple languages, we can build a more connected and informed world. The initiative by China Media Group not only highlights the practical applications of AI in media but also invites us to contemplate the future of global communication in an increasingly digital age.

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AI voice cloning requires ethical guidelines.

FTC awards deepfake detection prizes.

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The government announced winners of a contest to tell real voices from deepfake audio

The federal government is trying to promote efforts to counter so-called audio deepfakes by awarding four organizations prizes for developing technologies to distinguish between authentic human speech and audio generated by artificial intelligence.

The prizes, awarded Monday by the Federal Trade Commission, come as the agency has issued warnings to consumers about scams using AI-generated voices and as concerns grow about the influence of deepfakes on this year's elections.

One winner, OriginStory, created by people including researchers at Arizona State University, uses sensors to detect things that humans do such as breathing, motion and heartbeat information.

"We have this very unique speech production mechanism. And so by sensing it in parallel with the acoustic signal, you can verify that the speech is coming from a human" Visar Berisha, a professor at ASU's College of Health Solutions who was part of the team, told NPR in an interview.

OriginStory's technology leverages sensors in existing hardware, though it's not available in all recording equipment - newer Android phones and iPhones don't have them. Berisha says they are focusing on hardware that already can use it.

Another, DeFake, made by Ning Zhang, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, injects data into recordings of real voices so AI-generated voice clones don't sound like the real person.

Zhang says his technology was inspired from earlier tools developed by University of Chicago researchers that place hidden changes in images so that artificial intelligence algorithms that try to train themselves on the images cannot mimic them.

A third, AI Detect, uses AI to catch AI. It's made by startup Omni Speech, and its CEO David Przygoda says their machine learning algorithm extracts features from audio clips like inflection and uses that to teach the models to tell the difference between real and fake audio.

"They have a really hard time transitioning between different emotions, whereas a human being can be amused in one sentence and distraught in the next." says Przygoda.

In an FTC video, the company says its tool is over 99.9% accurate, but Przygoda says it's not yet ready for independent testing, and the contest judges did not test the submissions under real world conditions.

The three winners will split a cash prize of $35,000. Another company, Pindrop Security, received recognition for its work but will not receive cash because it's a larger organization.

In a statement, the company says the FTC's award, "recognizes and validates that a decade of work Pindrop has put in to study the problem of voice clones and other deepfakes."

There are a number of existing commercial detection tools that rely on machine learning, but factors such as sound quality and media format can make them less reliable, and detectors need to constantly be trained on new deepfake generators to catch the audio they produce.

Berisha says this is a losing game in the long term, referencing the challenges that detectors of AI-generated text faced. OpenAI took down its own detector months after it launched, citing poor results.

"I think we're headed in exactly the same direction for voices. And so if AI-based detectors work now, I think they'll work less well six months from now and less well a year from now, two years from now. And at some point, they will stop working altogether."

This drove him to develop a process that authenticates human voices as words are being spoken.

Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission bannedAI-enabled robocalls. Synthetic audio company ElevenLabs has a tool to detect its own product and is calling on other producers of synthetic voices to do the same. The European Union recently passed and "AI act' and state legislatures in the U.S.are passing lawsthat regulate deepfakes. Researchers, detection software makers and the FTC say that technology like this can't be the only solution to the challenges posed by generative AI tools.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Huo Jingnan
Huo Jingnan (she/her) is an assistant producer on NPR's investigations team.

OriginStory, DeFake, AI Detect detect deepfakes.

OpenAI apologized to Scarlett Johansson.

Title:

Content: OpenAI's Johansson gaffe pushes voice cloning into spotlight

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone

By AFP

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Scarlett Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her". — Reuters file

Published: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:51 PM

Last updated: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:52 PM

OpenAI was forced to apologise to actor Scarlett Johansson last week for using her voice -- or something very similar -- on its latest chatbot, throwing the spotlight on to voice-cloning tech.

Although OpenAI denied the voice they used was Johansson's, their case was not helped by CEO Sam Altman flagging the new model with a one-word message on social media -- "Her".

Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her", which Altman has previously said is his favourite film about the technology.

Right from the start, AI voice cloning has proved problematic.

Last year, British firm Elevenlabs went viral for all the wrong reasons when it released its voice-cloning software.

Internet pranksters immediately began pushing out deepfaked celebrities -- Harry Potter star Emma Watson was shown reading Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year becoming far more realistic and nuanced.

Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, told AFP it was largely down to a program called Tortoise that was released two years ago.

The program's developers threw thousands of hours of voice data into their model in an unstructured way and discovered it not only learnt what to say but how to say it.

"That was a pretty big paradigm shift," Riparbelli said on the sidelines of last week's VivaTech conference in Paris.

Tortoise was an open source program and Elevenlabs was the first to go to market using it.

OpenAI uses similar systems though they do not release any details.

Much of the controversy around voice cloning has focused on concerns over people misusing the software.

But the claim against OpenAI is unusual because it is the company itself accused of playing fast and loose.

"It was very unfortunate that OpenAI did that -- really not very good," Katya Laine, CEO of TALKR.ai, told AFP at VivaTech.

"If they actually cloned her voice without her knowing then I think that's very very bad," said Riparbelli.

The two entrepreneurs are among hundreds harnessing AI voice programs for uses that they argue will make companies more efficient.

Laine's firm provides virtual voice assistants -- essentially AI customer service agents.

She said her firm's system could now resolve 25 to 30 percent of calls without any human involvement.

Synthesia specialises in video avatars, which Riparbelli said allowed any office worker to turn text or slides into a video performed by a realistic AI.

Both Riparbelli and Laine allow their clients to use their own avatars, off-the-shelf products or those supplied by the likes of OpenAI and Elevenlabs.

Riparbelli said Synthesia used actors whose likenesses and voices were licensed for two years with an option to renew after the initial period.

The problems arise if actors' voices are used without their consent.

The fiasco overshadowed a developer conference in Paris last week when OpenAI was showing off a suite of new tools.

In front of a big screen in an auditorium, Romain Huet, OpenAI's Head of Developer Experience, breezily chatted into his phone.

Seconds later, his short voice sample had been processed and could be heard commentating over a generated video -- in five languages.

The demonstration showed how quickly the field is moving, but the headlines had already been written.

The Washington Post asked in a newsletter "How dumb is OpenAI?", other commentators were suggesting wunderkind Altman was nothing more than a huckster.

Nonetheless, Riparbelli was open to OpenAI's argument that they had used another actor who just sounded liked Johansson.

"If it's not her but someone who sounds a lot like her... where do you draw that line," Riparbelli asked.

"If they're not allowed to use someone who sounds a lot like her, then it sets a very odd precedent."

More news from World

ElevenLabs deepfaked Emma Watson.

AI clones could extort money.

What do cybersecurity experts believe about the use of synthesized voice?

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

Voice clones used in fake kidnapping scam.

Title:

Content: AI clones child’s voice in fake kidnapping scam

‘I never doubted for one second it was her,’ mother says

Anthony Cuthbertson
Thursday 13 April 2023 12:34
Comments

A mother has said she was “100 per cent” convinced by an AI voice clone of her daughter that scammers used in a faked kidnapping attempt.

Jennifer DeStefano from Arizona picked up a call from an unknown number and heard what she believed to be her 15-year-old daughter Brie “sobbing”.

The voice on the other end of the line said, “mom, I messed up”, before a male voice took over and made threatening demands.

“This man gets on the phone, and he’s like, ‘listen here, I’ve got your daughter’,” Ms DeStafano told local news show WKYT.

The apparent kidnapper told the mother: “You call the police, you call anybody, I’m going to pop her so full of drugs, I’m going to have my way with her, and I’m going to drop her off in Mexico.”

In the background, Ms DeStefano said she could hear her daughter saying “help me, mom, please help me” and crying.

“It was 100 per cent her voice,” Ms DeStefano said.

“It was never a question of who is this? It was completely her voice, it was her inflection, it was the way she would have cried – I never doubted for one second it was her. That was the freaky part that really got me to my core.”

The apparent kidnapper demanded $1 million for the daughter to be released, before lowering the figure to $50,000. Ms DeStefano only realised that her daughter was safe after a friend called her husband and confirmed that she was safe.

The scammer, who police are still investigating, appears to have used artificial intelligence voice clone technology, which has become increasingly competent in recent years at mimicking people’s voices.

It is also relatively easy to access and use, with AI tools freely available on the internet.

AI-generated voices have already been used in films to replicate actors like James Earl Jones who voiced the original Darth Vader character in the Star Wars franchise.

It has also been touted as a way for authors to produce audiobooks without spending hours in a studio reading their work.

The technology has also raised fears that it could be misused by scammers or people attempting to create deepfake videos, with one voice clone startup warning that it could be “harmful in the wrong hands”.

In a press release last year, the firm Respeecher said: “The widespread attention and adoption of deepfake technologies will accelerate the need to regulate the use of the technology.”

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What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

Voice cloning used for Darth Vader.

Eleven Labs is extending its voice cloning services for which industries?

Voice cloning used for political messaging in India.

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Content: Lok Sabha polls: How GenAI is rewriting political campaigning strategies

GenAI is being widely employed by political parties and candidates for a personalised approach to voters

Illustration: Ajay Mohanty

RangoliAnushka BhardwajBoris Pradhan New Delhi
Generative artificial intelligence is making a serious impact on political campaigns in India, with instances of AI-generated content being shared by parties on both sides of the political divide. These include K T Rama Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) campaigning for the Congress, audio and video messages featuring deceased leaders J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi, and a viral song video featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As India heads to the Lok Sabha polls, GenAI-driven campaigns are gaining traction, especially given that over half the population uses at least one social media networking site. “The introduction of GenAI in poll campaigns has led to a significant increase in the re-personification of candidates,” noted Preetham Venkky, chief digital officer at DDB Mudra Group, a marketing agency.

Echoing the observation, Diggaj Mogra, a political consultant and director at Jarvis Technology and Strategy Consulting, said personalised audio messages are in high demand due to their relatability, scalability, and cost efficiency.

GenAI-driven content in politics has witnessed a sharp uptick since October-November 2023, after a few videos, including one featuring the late Karunanidhi, went viral recently. “Initially, we used to get only 1-2 requests in a year. But during October-November last year, such requests surged to more than a hundred,” said Divyendra Singh Jadoun, founder, The Indian Deepfaker, a synthetic media company.

Overcoming the language barrier

The Indian Deepfaker offers voice-cloning services in 117 different languages. Jadoun explained: “The calls are made by a conversational AI agent, giving the impression that the leader is making a direct conversation with the voter, by using his/her name.”

With a diverse voter base and a wide range of local issues and interests, AI-generated content is helping politicians to be omnipresent. “Voice cloning can now address each issue mentioned in the manifesto, removing language and knowledge barriers,” observed Venkky.

Vaibhav Walia, chairman of the communication war-room 2024 for the Congress, revealed the plans to translate Rahul Gandhi’s speeches into almost eight different languages using GenAI and machine learning (ML). He added that AI is being used not only for content creation but also for reaching the target audience.

Easing the cost burden

Also, easy accessibility, scalability, and mass production have cut down the cost of campaigning, especially for independent candidates and those from smaller parties.

Senthil Nayagam, founder of Muonium AI, a Chennai-based visual effects studio, said that parties pay approximately Rs 15-20 per video targeting a particular voter. However, the cost may vary depending on the level of personalisation in the content. Jadoun noted that a full campaign, including voice cloning, a digital avatar of the leader, and social media dissemination, can be designed under Rs 40-45 lakh with the help of GenAI.

“About 80 per cent of the work we do is AI-driven. We have a small team of less than 10 people. AI has cut down my labour costs by 70 per cent,” said Nayagam.

Tool on trial

Despite its cost efficiency and high level of personalisation, GenAI is still being used as an experimental tool by political parties. Abbin Theepura, a political strategist and founder of Politique Marquer, believes that “this Lok Sabha election is more of a trial for GenAI content.” He explained: “Our AI model helps us analyse data for creating accurate advertisements. It has reduced the hours we used to spend on excel-sheets but the groundwork is very much there. Our team collects the data and AI interprets it.”

The wild West

Tech giants and GenAI platforms, including Meta, Google, and OpenAI, are in discussions with the Election Commission of India about monitoring AI-generated content. However, an official framework is still largely absent. Preetham Venkky suggested that each social media platform needs to build a stronger mechanism to regulate the use of GenAI, though he noted that this goal has not been achieved for the current poll season.

Jadoun explained that customised phone calls collect data, such as location and age. This data, along with local concerns and recommendations, can be used by political parties to plan for welfare programmes.

While startups and political parties have their own conditions and guidelines for using GenAI, there is a lack of standardised measures. Jadoun revealed that his company rejected over 50 requests in November from customers who wanted to edit audio and video content to disparage political rivals, some of which contained explicit content. “But some firms agree to such conditions at a very low cost,” he added.

Changing landscape

- Easy accessibility, scalability, and mass production with the help of AI have cut down the cost of campaigning, especially for independent candidates

- Rs 40-45 lakh for a full political campaign

- 117 languages offered in voice-cloning services

- 70% cut in labour costs of firms

- Rs 15-20 per video targeting a particular voter

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First Published: Mar 17 2024 | 10:40 PM IST

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Training data legal debate: fair use vs permission.

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Content: I taught "AI Chen Shani" to sing so lifelike, she said that copyright needs to be protected urgently.
Graphic / Mirror Weekly
AI models are trained to produce the voices of specific people. Last year, the Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Laboratory teamed up with singer Shani Chen to create a single “teach me how to be your lover ” using an AI generation tool.
At the beginning of the release, it was deceived by many people in the industry. It was later learned that the original song was not Chen Shani herself, but an AI singing voice trained by the engineers with her song data from the past 20 years.
Unfortunately, technology brings progress and convenience, but it is always abused by those who want to.
A few months after the release of the above AI single, someone put Sun Yanzi ’ s data on the Internet, and anyone who uploaded a clean voice can replace and imitate Sun Yanzi ’ s singing voice.
Later, Shani Chen had the opportunity to communicate with lawyers and learned that at present, humans only have the right to personality, and the law obviously cannot keep up with the changes of the times.
Sony, Universal and Warner joined forces with the Recording Industry Association of America to sue AI companies Suno and Udio for using their works to train music generative AI systems, which they consider a massive copyright infringement.
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Not only did the musicians feel threatened, but the image company Getty Image also sued Stability AI for training with their images; the New York Times sued Open AI and Microsoft for unauthorized training of AI models with their content, and Open AI fought back against each other ’ s infringing accusations.
The legal disputes surrounding AI have surfaced, but can the materials currently used by generative AI in the training phase be considered fair use or must be authorized?
Opinions remain divided.
Creators can only hope that the government will step up to respond to the situation, as Shani Chen said: “Many of the rights of natural persons are in urgent need of legal protection. ”
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【 Cultural AI Course 1 】 The content industry has taken the tide of technology to become a trend expert exposes the copyright dispute of generative AI
[Cultural AI Conducted 2] Using their own content training models, they use AI drawing technology to improve animation quality
【 Culture AI Conducted 3 】 Promote the art of using new technology to create immersive content dual domain and want to let AI do 1 thing
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NO FAKEs Act protects artists' voices.

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Content: The Future Is Here
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AI This Week: Can AI's Environmental Impact Be Justified?

A new report shows the massive energy needs of AI systems. Plus: a look at how the music industry is fighting AI voice clones.

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Headlines This Week

  • A new report from Politico suggests a “billionaire-backed network” of Silicon Valley-linked AI “advisors” are working to control the regulatory agenda in Washington D.C. Boy, I sure wish stuff like that were illegal instead of just business-as-usual.
  • Despite apparently having lobbying money aplenty, it looks like the AI industry is still struggling to monetize some of its platforms. The Wall Street Journal reports that some major AI platforms, like Microsoft’s Github Copilot, have been hemorrhaging money.
  • Last but not least: A newly introduced draft bill would institute protections for musical artists against AI. We spoke with a music industry executive about what the policy could mean for his business.

The Top Story: AI’s Growing Environmental Impact

One of the ongoing problems connected to the AI industry is just how much power it takes to run its systems. The pursuit of enough juice to run the high-octane algorithms behind apps like Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT is causing concern even among AI’s biggest proponents. Now, a new study shows the electrical resources needed for the growing AI industry could make its environmental impact even worse than previously thought.

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The study, authored by Alex de Vries, who is a PhD candidate at the VU Amsterdam School of Business and Economics, claims that the AI industry’s energy needs may soon match those of a small country. “Given the expected production in the coming few years, by 2027 newly manufactured AI devices will be responsible for as much electricity consumption as my home country, the Netherlands,” de Vries told Insider this week. “This is also in the same range as the electricity consumption of countries like Sweden or Argentina.”

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While the rate of electricity consumption in the tech industry has remained relatively steady for years, de Vries says that the advent of the AI chatbot wars between tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, may have spawned a new era. De Vries’ study looks specifically at the electricity consumption of the AI sector as it applies to something called the “inference phase” of AI production. While most environmental impact studies have so far focused on the amount of energy it takes to train large language models like GPT-4, less attention has been paid to “inferencing,” which is the process by which language models produce new information as the result of prompts. This phase of energy consumption can be massive and, sometimes, accounts for a majority of energy expended during the AI life cycle, de Vries writes. Due to the potential ballooning nature of AI energy needs over the next several years, the scholar argues that developers “focus [not only] on optimizing AI, but also to critically consider the necessity of using AI in the first place.”

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De Vries’ study, like a number of other prominent environmental impact studies that have been published recently, begs the question: in an age of climate change and accelerating environmental distress, can generative AI really be justified? I mean, do we really need ChatGPT, automated email-writing, and AI stickers? Or are we killing the environment needlessly for too little in trade off?

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At best, these platforms offer increased convenience for consumers and some cost savings for corporations, but—for now—that’s about it. Much of the mystification around AI has helped hide the fact that generative AI technologies aren’t—in many cases—particularly revolutionary and, in some cases, aren’t even new. Sure, there are some novel scientific applications of AI that, once refined, could have a major impact. But it would be hard to argue that those applications are the ones getting the lion’s share of attention or resources. Mostly, it’s stuff like ChatGPT that hogs the spotlight (and venture capital).

When viewed through the lens of the technology’s massive environmental impact, it seems hard to justify what is little more than an over-hyped form of content automation. Better deepfakes aren’t worth killing the planet over.

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The Interview: Mitch Glazier on the Music Industry’s Fraught Relationship to AI

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This week we spoke with Mitch Glazier, the Chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, which lobbies on behalf of the music industry. RIAA is supporting a newly introduced piece of legislation that seeks to institute legal protections against the use of AI to replicate the visual or audio likenesses of artists. In recent months, there’s been  an explosion of AI “deepfake” content that blatantly rips off well-known musicians and celebrities. The  Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act, which is currently a discussion draft bill, would enshrine a number of legal protections for artists who don’t want their visual or audio likenesses used in unauthorized deepfakes. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What role did RIAA have in connection to this bill and what do you hope this bill achieves?

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We were one of several groups that were asked to give input so that they could develop the bill. SAG-AFTRA was also heavily involved. The idea was to create federal legislation because all of the protections for name, image, likeness and voice are in the states right now—and they’re all different.

What is it about AI that makes it a threat to your industry (the music business)? What’s the problem with this technology?

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The problem really isn’t the technology. AI can be licensed for a variety of great purposes and uses. The problem is when AI is made based on a particular artist’s voice or image without consent, credit, and compensation. Basically, what the bill says is, ‘The technology’s great and if an artist wants to license the use of their essence—their voice, their likeness—that’s they’re choice. But what you can’t do is clone their voice without their permission.’ It’s just a basic right that exists for all other types of property—and that should exist here. It should be up to the artist to decide whether or not they want to allow you to use their image or their voice.

So it seems like this legislation actually opens the door for more AI music but the idea is that, if a particular artist is involved in an AI or a deepfake production, they would have to get credit and, presumably, get paid, right?

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Well, the bill says “authorized,” so the artist would have to authorize it. If they want to negotiate compensation they can. Some may not want to. But the key is that “authorization” part. The author has to say, “Yes, you can use my voice, my image.” If they don’t say yes, you can’t do it.

What are your hopes for the passage of the bill? It seems like there are some pretty prominent Senators supporting it.

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We’re very optimistic. This issue goes beyond the music and entertainment industry and it goes beyond the issue of art. It relates to every individual’s right to control their own essence, for lack of a better term. We’ve been encouraged by great bipartisan support right off the bat. To get two Democrats and two Republicans—including the chairman of the Intellectual Property Subcommittee (Amy Klobuchar D-Minnesota)—to put out this discussion draft and to do it in a way in which they’re inviting people to respond and come into the conversation, is a great sign.

Catch up on all of Gizmodo’s AI news here, or see all the latest news here. For daily updates, subscribe to the free Gizmodo newsletter.

Deepfake detection uses biometrics and spectral analysis.

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Content: Expressionkaspersky.com
What are the mysteries of deep sonic falsification?
The spread of artificial intelligence and easy access to tools capable of altering the truth have led to the emergence of one of the most shocking and disturbing digital manipulation techniques, “deepfake. ”
Deep fakes make it possible to create fake videos, photos and sounds that show individuals saying or doing things they never said or did, and although the most popular version until recently was video, deep fakes are gaining importance day by day.
A historical overview
The first major program to bring the potential of deep voice counterfeiting to the general public was Adobe Voco in 2016, which used artificial intelligence to mimic a person ’ s voice from a short recording.
emoticalipwatchdog.com
The software was scrapped after it was found that it could be used to create false, misleading and dangerous sounds, and since then, advances in neural network technology have enabled increasingly realistic and convincing audio falsifications.
At present, we can find many applications and tools online that use this technology to create fake sounds, where Microsoft has launched an artificial intelligence model called VALL-E that can imitate the human voice with a recording of only three seconds.
Deep sonic falsification
Deep voice falsification aims to create an audio model capable of replicating the actual speaker ’ s voice, but the model must be trained through the speaker ’ s audio recordings, in order to be ready to generate an artificial sound similar to that of the original person.
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Deep learning and natural language processing techniques are used to analyze the unique patterns and characteristics of sound, some of which include pitch, speed, rhythm and tone, and artificial intelligence uses recordings to deliver an original sound, creating a new audio recording that mimics the speaker ’ s voice to a full degree.
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Fake deep voice is created using AI-powered text to speech technology, and this can be done with just a few minutes of recorded speech to train an AI speech model, which can read any text with the target voice.
expressionveritonevoice.com
The original recorded sound must be of sufficient quality to sample the unique characteristics of the speaker ’ s voice, after which AI algorithms analyze the patterns and characteristics of the original sound and learn to mimic them.
This can be done with male and female voices and adaptation to the identity of the speaker, the result is a fake voice recording that mimics the voice of the original person, and in addition to generating speech, these instruments can simulate sounds such as breathing and mouth movements.
Initiatives to combat voice counterfeiting
There are initiatives aimed at combating this increasingly prevalent voice counterfeiting, and some technologies can detect these counterfeit products, such as voice biometrics, an authentication method that uses a person ’ s unique voice pattern to verify their identity.
expressionclt.nliu.ac.in
This pattern includes characteristics such as tone and pitch of the voice, speech speed, and pronunciation, and to use voice biometrics, a person's voice must be captured, after which, its unique characteristics are analyzed as well as the length of the words.
Spectroscopy can also be used, consisting of analyzing acoustic signals to detect unique sound patterns that are difficult to replicate in deep fakes.
There are also tools that can detect the digital traces present in deep voice fakes, because the latter fails to accurately simulate all the variables of the actual voice recording, and therefore, deep fakes may contain breaks in sound or background noise that differ from those expected in the original sound.
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Regulators propose rules to curb voice cloning scams.

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Content: NewsLocal News

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Convincing 'deepfake' scams mimic voices using AI to try and get money

Posted at 6:35 AM, May 23, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-23 08:35:34-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Scammers are getting smarter with ways to try and trick everyday people and the FBI warns that the newest scam clones voices in order to demand money.

It's a trick that is all too familiar, but with modern technology, it can be harder to determine what's fake and what's real.

"I've had individuals [call and say', 'We've got your son down here in Mexico and would you pay so much money to get him out,'" explained Robert Brundige of Salt Lake City.

Fraudsters will fake a dire situation, such as a medical emergency or intense crisis, then call a loved one, asking for money.

Recently, Utahns have reported getting calls where there are sound effects playing in the background, making a dire situation more believable.

Melissa Goodman was targeted by the scammers and said the fake call was believable.

"There's a person in the background, screaming, crying, hyperventilating. He thought it was me," Goodman explained. "They knew our names, they were calling us by my name, by his name."

Officials with the Taylorsville Police Department have heard about these types of scams from other local departments, where even real recordings are part of the scheme.

"The people did think that their child was with the kidnappers cause they had some kind of audio from a video or something like that," Lt. Aaron Cheshire explained.

The FBI warns that we're entering a new era where AI is used for scams and the result is shocking.

"There's no turning back the clock on this," said Jason Wiese, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah for the School of Computing. "Now that the technology is out there, even if you pass laws, it's not very easy to actually reign this in."

Already in 2023, the world has seen a boom in AI and the technology is so good, it's even stumping internet pros.

An image or recording that's "convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said" is called a "deepfake."

The only "tell" for these deepfake images and recording is that they can look and sound a little robotic but as technology improves, so will the scams.

"Even if there's a 'tell' today, it may not be something that exists tomorrow as the technology continues to improve," Wiese explained.

The Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services is constantly educating older Utahns on what to watch out for.

"The best thing to do is hang up the phone and then call that loved one back from your cellphone on their saved contact information," explained Afton January with the department.

So, if you post videos on public social media accounts, be aware that someone could use that audio to trick your loved ones.

"They are often the targets of these types of scams," January said. "And it's really important that we protect them."

But by being aware of the scams and what to watch out for, Utahns of all ages can be prepared for any scam that may come their way.