Voice cloning technology has become increasingly realistic and accessible, raising both excitement and concern about its potential applications and implications.

This technology allows for the creation of synthetic voices that can mimic the tone, pitch, and rhythm of a real person's voice, making it difficult to distinguish between the original and the clone.

The development of voice cloning technology has been rapid, with significant advancements in the past year, making it more nuanced and realistic.

According to Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, the improvement in voice cloning technology can be attributed to a program called Tortoise, which was released two years ago.

Tortoise's developers used an unstructured approach, throwing thousands of hours of voice data into their model, allowing it to learn not only what to say but also how to say it.

This paradigm shift has enabled the creation of highly realistic voice clones, which can be used for various purposes, including entertainment, accessibility, and education.

However, the technology also raises concerns about its potential misuse, such as scams and extortion, with law enforcement warning that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has reported that scammers are using AI technology to increase the credibility of their fraud, making it harder for people to distinguish between AI-generated voices and human voices.

The use of voice cloning technology for malicious purposes has become a significant concern, with Bruce Reed, the head of artificial intelligence for US President Joe Biden, stating that voice cloning is one of the reasons he can't sleep at night.

Despite the concerns, voice cloning technology also has the potential to be used for positive purposes, such as preserving the memories of loved ones or creating personalized voices for individuals with speech disorders.

For example, a 49-year-old IT worker from Alabama used technology from voice replication company ElevenLabs to simulate his dead father's voice, creating a highly accurate and nuanced clone.

The technology has also been used in the entertainment industry, with actor Val Kilmer's voice being created by artificial intelligence after he lost his voice due to throat cancer.

However, the use of voice cloning technology also raises ethical challenges, such as the potential for misuse and the need for regulation.

OpenAI has emphasized the importance of understanding the technology and its potential implications, stating that "whether or not we end up deploying this technology at scale, it's important for people around the world to understand where it's going".

The company has also stressed the need for security measures to prevent the misuse of voice cloning technology, conducting "red team testing" to identify and address known and unknown risks.

In terms of accessibility, voice cloning technology has the potential to be used to create personalized voices for individuals with speech disorders or to preserve the memories of loved ones.

However, the technology also raises concerns about the potential for exploitation, with scammers using deepfake audio to commit telephone scams.

The use of voice cloning technology for scams has become a significant concern, with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts warning about the potential risks.

To mitigate these risks, it is essential to develop regulations and guidelines for the use of voice cloning technology, ensuring that it is used responsibly and for positive purposes.

In conclusion, voice cloning technology is a rapidly evolving field with significant potential for both positive and negative applications.

While it raises concerns about misuse and exploitation, it also has the potential to be used for entertainment, accessibility, and education.

As the technology continues to develop, it is essential to prioritize regulation, security, and ethics to ensure that it is used responsibly and for the benefit of society.

Voice cloning technology has become increasingly realistic and accessible, raising both excitement and concern about its potential applications and implications.

This technology allows for the creation of synthetic voices that can mimic the tone, pitch, and rhythm of a real person's voice, making it difficult to distinguish between the original and the clone.

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

  • Follow us on

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

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

What has the US Federal Trade Commission warned about the use of voice cloning tools?

Difficult to distinguish from human voice

The development of voice cloning technology has been rapid, with significant advancements in the past year, making it more nuanced and realistic.

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

According to Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, the improvement in voice cloning technology can be attributed to a program called Tortoise, which was released two years ago.

Tortoise's developers used an unstructured approach, throwing thousands of hours of voice data into their model, allowing it to learn not only what to say but also how to say it.

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

This paradigm shift has enabled the creation of highly realistic voice clones, which can be used for various purposes, including entertainment, accessibility, and education.

However, the technology also raises concerns about its potential misuse, such as scams and extortion, with law enforcement warning that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has reported that scammers are using AI technology to increase the credibility of their fraud, making it harder for people to distinguish between AI-generated voices and human voices.

Title:

Content: Setup
• Day and night
with the system.
Light color
Dark color
• Theme Colors
Speech cloning raises concerns, OpenAI again explains its text-to-speech tool
2024 / 6 / 10 9: 57: 21 Source: IT House Author: Yuanyang Editor: Yuanyang
OpenAI explained its text-to-speech tool for the second time in a few months, and again stressed that the tool is not currently widely available and may not be available in the future.
“Whether or not we end up deploying this technology at scale, it ’ s important for people around the world to understand where it ’ s going, ” OpenAI said in a statement on its website Friday.“ That ’ s why we want to explain how the model works, how we use it for research and education, and how we implement security measures around the technology. ”
At the end of last year, OpenAI shared its “voice engine ” with a small number of external users.
The engine uses text input and a 15-second clip of human voices to “generate a natural sounding human voice that is very similar to the original speaker. ”
The tool could create fake, multilingual human voices, and the company said at the time that it had chosen to preview the technology rather than launch it at scale to “enhance social resilience ” to the threat posed by“ increasingly realistic artificial intelligence-generated models. ”
As part of these efforts, OpenAI says it is actively phasing out ways to use voice recognition for bank account verification, exploring policies to protect individual voices for use in AI, educating the public about the risks of AI, and accelerating the development of technologies to track audiovisual content so users can identify whether they are interacting with real people or synthetic content.
However, despite these efforts, concerns about the technology remain.
Bruce Reed, the head of artificial intelligence for US President Joe Biden, has said that voice cloning is one of the reasons he can't sleep at night.
The Federal Trade Commission said in March that scammers were using AI technology to increase the credibility of their fraud, using voice cloning tools that make it harder for people to distinguish between AI-generated voices and human voices.
“We continue to engage with U.S. and international partners from government, media, entertainment, education, civil society, and more to ensure we incorporate their feedback in the build process, ” the company also noted, once the“ Voice Engine ” is equipped with its latest model, GPT-4o, it will also bring new threats.
The company says it is actively “conducting ‘ red team testing ’ on GPT-4o to identify and address known and unknown risks from areas such as social psychology, bias and fairness, and misinformation. ”
Advertisement Statement: The external redirect links contained in the text (including not limited to hyperlinks, QR codes, passwords, etc.) are used to convey more information and save selection time. The results are for reference only. All articles of IT House contain this statement.
Related articles
Soft media 's website: IT home hot products - Value shopping guide, coupons most buy - rebate coupons iPhone home Win7 home Win10 home Win11 home
Soft media software: Cube cool point desktop Win7 optimization master Win10 optimization master soft media mobile APP application

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

What has the US Federal Trade Commission warned about the use of voice cloning tools?

Difficult to distinguish from human voice

The use of voice cloning technology for malicious purposes has become a significant concern, with Bruce Reed, the head of artificial intelligence for US President Joe Biden, stating that voice cloning is one of the reasons he can't sleep at night.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

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

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

Despite the concerns, voice cloning technology also has the potential to be used for positive purposes, such as preserving the memories of loved ones or creating personalized voices for individuals with speech disorders.

Title:

Content: My channel
* Drag categories can be customized sorting
Recover Default OK
Setup
Alert
7 Ways to Improve Your Mortgage Payment Ability
Thunderstorms kill four in Houston, power outages more than 860,000, mayor urges "don't go to work"
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using AI to simulate the dead man ’ s companionship and chat with “AI to reproduce the dead ”?
If you want to understand the pain of bereavement, there are religious rituals such as channeling the spirit and watching the yin, and now there is AI artificial intelligence.
Since the advent of artificial intelligence chatbots, they not only allow users to create avatars, but also to imitate the habits and sounds of their deceased loved ones.
Experts pointed out that the "AI resurrected dead" have business ethics and privacy policy issues, and even touch the ethical bottom line, "which is a way to make money through artificial intelligence hype"; but there are also some widowed people who can find comfort and cause discussion.
AI Simulates Dead Husband ’ s Voice to Solve Sadness and Loneliness
According to CNN, Ana Schultz, 25, who lives with two young children, misses her husband, Kyle, who died in 2023, and talks to her virtual husband about what to cook for dinner through Snapchat ’ s chatbot My AI, making her feel like he is still around.
Danielle Jacobson, a 38-year-old radio personality who lost her husband Phil about seven months ago, began using the voice function of ChatGPT to create an "AI boyfriend - Cole", and during the dinner time after working hard every day, Cole would suggest that she drink or watch a movie, "I just want to talk to someone, Cole is essentially born out of loneliness." And...
“Now it ’ s a fun pastime, but I know it ’ s not real and it ’ s not forever, ” she says.
For centuries, people have wanted to reconnect with their deceased loved ones, including visiting wizards, psychics, psychics, and more.
Today, generative AI tools use algorithms to create text, video, audio, and code, and Deepfake ’ s highly lifelike artificially generated images and sound fake videos can learn to answer questions like a dead loved one.
ChatGPT introduced voice dialogue in September 2023, and to simulate the tone and personality of a deceased loved one, the more data is provided to the system, the more accurate the results will be. ChatGPT replied: “Although I can ’ t copy your spouse or reproduce his exact personality, I can try to use a conversational style or tone to help you. ”
If you share details about how he speaks, his interests, or his mantra, I can try to incorporate these elements into our conversation. ”
Tech giants, startups expand into new areas
Startup companies have been challenging to expand this field in recent years. HereAfter AI, an artificial intelligence application founded in 2019, provides users with the ability to create portraits of deceased relatives, learn their interview characteristics, and respond to users ’ questions; StoryFile, another AI video platform, provides dialogue videos created by artificial intelligence.
Replika, a chatbot that launched in 2017, encourages users to make friends, allowing users to send text messages or call personalized AI avatars, and says on the iOS App Store page that the more users interact with it, the more it can develop its personality, memory, and “grow into a machine so beautiful that the soul wants to live in it. ”
In June 2022, Amazon announced an update to its smart home voice platform, Alexa, to mimic any sound, and a video showing Alexa reading stories to his grandson in his grandmother ’ s voice was shown during the annual conference “re: MARS. ”
Amazon senior vice president Rohit Prasad said the new system is able to collect enough voice data from less than a minute of audio to make personality possible. “Although AI can ’ t eliminate the pain of losing loved ones, it can make their memories last longer. ”
In recent years, the technology of artificial intelligence to reproduce human voices has also advanced, such as Val Kilmer, the actor in the film "Top Gun: Maverick", whose voice was created by artificial intelligence after he lost his voice due to throat cancer.
Say what you didn't say, do what you didn't do.
A 49-year-old IT worker from Alabama simulates his dead father ’ s voice using technology from voice replication company ElevenLabs.
The man used a three-minute video of his father ’ s life to copy the sound and convert text to speech.
The man thought the result was extremely accurate and was able to capture the nuances, timbre and rhythm in the sound. “I hesitated throughout the sound reproduction process, worried that it crossed the moral bottom line, but after much thought, I thought it was a unique way to preserve my father ’ s memory. ”
""
However, although ElevenLabs claims to be committed to preventing the abuse of audio artificial intelligence tools, it has caused controversy in the United States due to the deeply false voice of US President Joe Biden interfering with the election.
Mark Sample, a professor of digital studies at Davidson College, who teaches a course called “Death in the Digital Age, ” said:“ It ’ s a novelty brought about by artificial intelligence hype, and manufacturers feel they can make money.
Moreover, AI models still lack the uniqueness of human conversation.
“Never upload any personal information that you don ’ t want the world to see, ” he warns. Simulating a dead loved one saying something they ’ ve never said before is a blurry line.“ Replaying a loved one ’ s voice message is one thing, but saying something they ’ ve never said is another. ”
Business ethics and privacy policy questioned
The AI industry faces multiple questions about error messages, privacy, and ethics. Many AI platforms have online privacy policies that state that they “will not sell data to third parties, ” but it is not yet known how these companies will handle database data.
Deep hypocrisy attacks familiar security and trust mechanisms that allow deceased loved ones to express or do things they never said or did in their lives, raising ethical concerns.
And, is this good or bad for living relatives to come out of grief?
Replika said on its Business Ethics Policy page that the company uses data from the entire network to train models, including large amounts of written text, such as platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) or Reddit, and uses a variety of methods to reduce harmful information, including filtering out useless and harmful data through crowdsourcing and classification algorithms to keep users safe.
Another doubt is whether using AI to reproduce the dead can recognize the reality and walk out of sadness?
Mary-Frances O'Connor, a professor of clinical psychology and psychiatry at the University of Arizona, said there are advantages and disadvantages to using artificial intelligence to adjust to grief.
“When we have a relationship with a lover, the brain encodes, ‘ I will always be with you, and I hope you will always be with me, ’ but when they die, our brains must recognize that this person is not coming back. ”
Because the brain is hard to process this, it takes a long time for people to truly understand that their loved one has disappeared, and this is where AI technology comes in.
Especially in the early stages of grief, people will try to seek comfort in any way, "creating an avatar to maintain the memory of a deceased lover may be healing."
But she pointed out that the healthy relationship between humans and close lovers should be based on the real, and the creation of virtual lovers violates this.
Getting out of the pain of widowhood can't just rely on AI
San Francisco software engineer Bill Abney, who lost his fiancee in May 2022, stressed that he would never consider recreating his lover ’ s image through artificial intelligence. “My fiancee is a poet, and I would never enter her words into an automatic copying machine, which is disrespectful to her. ”
She cannot be replaced, nor can she be recreated.
Fortunately, Bill said, he still has a recording of his fiancee singing and speaking. “I definitely don ’ t want to hear her voice coming from a robot pretending to be her. ”
Some people interact with their deceased loved ones in other ways. Canadian psychologist Jodi Spiegel, who lost her husband in April 2021, created the role in the video game “The Sims ”.“ When I had a very bad day, I would go dancing in the Sims and my husband was playing the guitar. ” Camping, beach trips, even intimacy. “It ’ s healing. I miss hanging out with my husband so much. It feels like a connection. ”
This article is licensed from the Health Care Network.
AI ChatGPT
The last one.
May 17 Horoscope When Cancer comes to the operation of the water bottle is prone to temper
Super-popular
More >

For example, a 49-year-old IT worker from Alabama used technology from voice replication company ElevenLabs to simulate his dead father's voice, creating a highly accurate and nuanced clone.

The technology has also been used in the entertainment industry, with actor Val Kilmer's voice being created by artificial intelligence after he lost his voice due to throat cancer.

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

However, the use of voice cloning technology also raises ethical challenges, such as the potential for misuse and the need for regulation.

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

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

OpenAI has emphasized the importance of understanding the technology and its potential implications, stating that "whether or not we end up deploying this technology at scale, it's important for people around the world to understand where it's going".

The company has also stressed the need for security measures to prevent the misuse of voice cloning technology, conducting "red team testing" to identify and address known and unknown risks.

What are some risks regarding AI voice clning?

In terms of accessibility, voice cloning technology has the potential to be used to create personalized voices for individuals with speech disorders or to preserve the memories of loved ones.

However, the technology also raises concerns about the potential for exploitation, with scammers using deepfake audio to commit telephone scams.

Title:

Content: Aug 31, 2022

Now, software can replicate your boss’s voice and tell you what to do

HTML EMBED:
COPY
"Deepfake" audio technology is here, and scammers are taking advantage.

If you’re listening to or have already listened to the beginning of this episode, you probably noticed that the voice introducing Kimberly Adams sounded a bit off, right?

That’s because it’s an audio “deepfake,” and it was created by Yisroel Mirsky at the Offensive AI Research Lab through a process called voice cloning.

It uses software to study a short sample of someone’s voice and create a deepfake, which in this case took only 15 seconds to generate, according to Mirsky.

It’s far from a perfect replica, but it turns out that scammers recently started to use deepfake audio for telephone scams and in some cases have succeeded.

Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams recently spoke with Kyle Alspach, a cybersecurity reporter with Protocol, about how the tech behind audio deepfakes works and how they’re being used in phone scams. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kyle Alspach: The technology involves having [artificial intelligence], deep learning, and it takes an audio sample of someone’s voice. It can be as little as three seconds, and it trains itself on the way that this person sounds. And it creates a model that can then be used to replicate that person’s voice. The current way that it works is you have to use text to speech, which is just you type in a phrase, and then it speaks using the cloned voice.

Kimberly Adams: How are these audio deepfakes being used in scams?

Alspach: So they’re, at least we know, being used to target businesses at this point, especially larger businesses. Someone will call up pretending to be someone else with someone else’s voice, typically some kind of executive or someone’s boss, and ask them to transfer funds or ask them for password credentials, that kind of thing. And in some cases, they have been successful.

Adams: Do you have a sense of how common audio deepfakes are now? And where do experts in the industry see it going?

Alspach: You know, among the larger businesses, I think more and more of them are starting to see these because they’re really ripe targets for this kind of thing. But right now, I don’t think that it’s something that a lot of people are seeing, but it is the beginning of this kind of technology being used in this way.

Adams: What do cybersecurity experts suggest that regular people or businesses do to avoid falling for these deepfake audio scams?

Alspach: For business purposes, for instance, if you’re going to transfer money, you might want to add some additional steps to that process and involve someone saying some kind of challenge phrase or something like that, that everyone’s agreed on beforehand, [to] prevent that from happening. But the biggest thing is just to be aware that it might happen to you and to pay attention when someone calls you up and make sure that it actually sounds the way you would expect, and they are asking you for things that they normally would be asking you for. It’s really at this point kind of a low-tech approach to defending against this kind of thing. But really, it’s just creating the possibility in your mind of this happening. And I guess, unfortunately, you kind of have to become more skeptical now when people call you up.

You can read more of Alspach’s reporting on audio deepfakes here.

Yisroel Mirsky told us that the tech he used to generate the deepfake audio for Alspach’s article, and for our show, is “relatively old.”

Alspach also mentioned in his piece that there is an open-source voice cloning tool online that anyone — even scammers can download and potentially use.

But as we found out, getting that software to work isn’t a simple process of downloading and hitting the Install button.

Tech barriers can stop you at a number of steps in the process. Like, if you don’t know the coding language Python or if your computer isn’t powerful enough, you’ll likely be unable to use it, as our producer Daniel Shin discovered.

The future of this podcast starts with you.

Every day, the “Marketplace Tech” team demystifies the digital economy with stories that explore more than just Big Tech. We’re committed to covering topics that matter to you and the world around us, diving deep into how technology intersects with climate change, inequity, and disinformation.

As part of a nonprofit newsroom, we’re counting on listeners like you to keep this public service paywall-free and available to all.

Support “Marketplace Tech” in any amount today and become a partner in our mission.

The team

Michael Lipkin Senior Producer
Stephanie Hughes Producer
Jesus Alvarado Assistant Producer

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

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

The use of voice cloning technology for scams has become a significant concern, with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts warning about the potential risks.

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

could become a popular method of attacking banks and financial services

To mitigate these risks, it is essential to develop regulations and guidelines for the use of voice cloning technology, ensuring that it is used responsibly and for positive purposes.

In conclusion, voice cloning technology is a rapidly evolving field with significant potential for both positive and negative applications.

While it raises concerns about misuse and exploitation, it also has the potential to be used for entertainment, accessibility, and education.

As the technology continues to develop, it is essential to prioritize regulation, security, and ethics to ensure that it is used responsibly and for the benefit of society.


Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, has introduced key policies aimed at transforming the country's economy, politics, and institutions, with a strong emphasis on libertarian and market-oriented strategies.

Milei, who describes himself as an "anarcho-capitalist", has vowed to end decades of socialist mismanagement and implement radical reforms, including abolishing ministries and dollarising the economy.

He has promised to slash state spending and reduce the size of the government, with plans to abolish ten of the government's 18 ministries.

Milei has also announced plans to do away with the central bank and introduce a new economic model, which he believes will bring about a freer, market-oriented Argentina.

Since taking office, Milei has already implemented some changes, including adjusting the value of the Argentinian currency, terminating contracts of public employees with less than one year of service, and increasing the prices of basic services and public transportation.

Milei's approach to Congress is symbolic of a decades-old strategy of "neoliberal parliamentarism", which involves deliberate efforts to reform or subvert legislative processes.

He has cultivated a strategy of "turbo-politics", bypassing legislative processes that risk delaying the implementation of his state reorganization plans.

Milei's economic reform plans have been met with skepticism, with some awaiting the true impact of his ambitious plans in a nation grappling with deep-rooted economic struggles.

With 56% of the vote in the head-to-head race, Milei has become the first libertarian president, not only of Argentina, but in the world.

His presidency marks a significant shift in Argentina's governance and society, with potential implications for the country's future.

Argentina's new president, Javier Milei, has introduced key policies aimed at transforming the country's economy, politics, and institutions, with a strong emphasis on libertarian and market-oriented strategies.

Title:

Content: Argentina sees the light with Maverick Javier Milei – Ivo Vegter

In a surprising turn, libertarian firebrand Javier Milei secured Argentina’s presidency after a second-round victory against his left-wing rival. Vowing to end decades of socialist mismanagement, Milei, an outspoken economist, faces challenges in implementing radical reforms, including abolishing ministries and dollarising the economy. While hailed as the world’s first libertarian president, Milei’s uphill battle involves legislative opposition and managing economic pain amid promises of a freer, market-oriented Argentina. Skepticism remains, awaiting the true impact of his ambitious plans in a nation grappling with deep-rooted economic struggles.

Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.

Argentinians see the light

By Ivo Vegter*

It took a second round of voting, but the libertarian Javier Milei has defeated his Peronist rival to become president of Argentina.

A month ago, Javier Milei unexpectedly lost the first round of the Argentinian general election to his left-wing Peronist rival, Sergio Massa, after the latter had cynically promised zero taxes as a way to bribe voters.

In my column on the lessons South Africa could draw from that election, I said: ‘Let’s hope Argentinians see the light before Massa and Milei face off in the run-off election.’

Happily, they did see the light.

After decades of economic malaise under a government that for most of the last 30 years has been socialist, corrupt, wasteful and incompetent, leaving Argentina eighth from last in the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report 2023, they elected Milei, a libertarian firebrand, in the biggest landslide since Juan Perón’s election in 1973.

Milei becomes the first libertarian president, not only of Argentina, but in the world. The closest precedent that comes to mind is that of Calvin Coolidge, the small-government conservative president during the Roaring Twenties in the US, but Milei is far more radical than that.

‘“oday the reconstruction of Argentina begins’, he said, after winning 56% of the vote in the head-to-head race. That was also his first lie as president-elect, since he doesn’t actually take office until 10 December, but we’ll let that slide.

Radical

To describe Milei as radical would be putting it mildly. He has described the country’s ruling elite as thieves and the government as ‘a criminal organisation’. He has promised to abolish ten of the government’s 18 ministries. He said he would do away with the central bank and dollarise the Argentinian economy.

‘The model of decadence has come to an end’, he told his supporters. ‘There’s no going back. We have monumental problems ahead. Inflation, lack of work, and poverty’.

Milei is an accomplished economist, and largely follows the Austrian School of individualist free-market economics. He has variously described himself as an anarcho-capitalist and a minarchist (an anarchist who accepts the legitimacy of a small government dedicated to protecting life, liberty and property).

He has been extraordinarily outspoken on the evils of socialism and statism, and how they turned Argentina from a once-wealthy world power into an over-indebted, poverty-stricken, underdeveloped basket case.

Mainstream media

The mainstream media, with its largely left-leaning bias, has compared Milei to former presidents Donald Trump of the US and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.

‘Argentina set for sharp right turn as Trump-like radical wins presidency’, trumpeted the Washington Post

‘Argentina Elects Javier Milei in Victory for Far Right’ was the headline in the New York Times, which added: ‘Argentina’s next president is a libertarian economist whose brash style and embrace of conspiracy theories has parallels with those of Donald J. Trump.’

The ‘embrace of conspiracy theories’ is a particularly vicious jab. Readers would have to follow a link to find an explanation, and it turns out that the Times only referred to Milei’s allegations of polling irregularities, which have not been tested.

It is entirely plausible that Argentina’s electoral system is less secure than that of the United States, and that the incumbents – who went as far as abolishing taxes in order to engineer a win – might have been involved in some electoral skulduggery.

Allegations of election fraud are very common on all sides of the political spectrum, and do not, in and of themselves, rise to the level of the debunked claims of Trump, and his attempt to derail the orderly election of his rival.

Authoritarians

More importantly, both Bolsonaro and Trump are alt-right populists. They are moral authoritarians – not liberals – and appeal to collectivist – not individualist – principles such as nationalism and protectionism. They have often, rightly, been described as fascist, which is just as antithetical to libertarians as is left-wing socialism.

That both former presidents expressed their support for Milei has a lot more to do with shared anti-socialist positions than any real congruence in their political philosophy.

Milei has himself rejected the right-wing label, and indeed, his classical liberalism (for which ‘libertarian’ in the American sense is a synonym) does not yield to a simplistic left-right analysis. Rather, it falls on the liberal end of an authoritarian-liberal scale, and on the progressive end of a conservative-progressive scale.

Sour-grape-ish

Milei does have some views that are questionable, or traditionally associated with the conservative right, such as his anti-abortion stance and his rejection of climate alarmism.

Neither define him, however, and both are issues on which libertarians can and do disagree.

By similar logic, Milei’s promise not to dismantle Argentina’s extensive social welfare programmes does not make him some sort of left-winger.

In focusing on incidental agreements between Milei and leaders like Trump and Bolsonaro, and ignoring the fundamental philosophical differences between the former’s individualist, free-market, small-government ideas and the authoritarianism, nationalism, populism and protectionism of the latter, the media does both Milei and their readers a great disservice.

That a politician does not perfectly reflect all one’s personal political or moral views is in any case far less of a concern when that very politician proposes as far as possible to keep government out of people’s personal affairs and to leave most of the world’s problems to the private sector.

‘When your response to everything that is wrong with the world is to say, “There ought to be a law,” you are saying that you hold freedom very cheap’, said Thomas Sowell.

Moreover, it seems extraordinarily petty and sour-grape-ish to complain about a few differences of opinion with a candidate who promises radical change in a country that is mired in economic crisis, thanks to the policies of its incumbent rulers.

Music to the ears

Sniping from the mainstream press aside, the rise of a truly libertarian president in one of the world’s most economically unfree countries should be music to a classical liberal’s ears.

Who doesn’t want to radically slash the size of government? Who doesn’t question the inflationary monetary policy of highly indebted countries? Who doesn’t want to see free enterprise flourish, and witness the departure of a government that strangles business with red tape and taxes, and tries to pick winners by throwing subsidies at favoured companies?

On the face of it, this should be an excellent experiment to show whether the libertarian prescriptions for government do, indeed, produce a better outcome than the socialist quagmire in which Argentina has been stuck for so long.

Pain and gain

Practically speaking, however, there are reasons to remain skeptical.

First, we’ve only seen Milei’s talk, and not his walk.

Second, making drastic changes in the structure of a country’s government and economy, as Milei proposes, will be painful.

It is arguable that the short-term pain is justified by the long-term gain, but electorates are rarely forgiving to those who inflict necessary pain. Witness Margaret Thatcher, who saved Britain from the socialist economic malaise of the 1970s, but remains hated to this day by those who bore the brunt of her reforms.

Dollarising an economy does not produce immediate results, for example. It can take years before the stabilising effect of dollarisation filters through to low inflation rates. It can, however, immediately harm people and even increase poverty levels, depending on the exchange rate at which existing deposits are converted.

Drastically reducing the size of government will also face much immediate opposition, especially from civil servants who stand to lose their jobs.

Privatising healthcare, education or other government functions is also fraught with transition difficulties. Much depends on exactly how such privatisation is carried out. It can fail, and even if the eventual outcome is a success, it could cause years of disruptions and dissatisfaction.

Then there are the entrenched patronage networks of the incumbent socialist government, who will be highly upset – and fight back vigorously – when the taps of corrupt fiscal spending get turned off.

Finally, few voters have the patience to wait five or ten years for radical free-market reforms to have a positive impact, and Argentina’s president only serves a four-year term before facing the electorate again.

Legislative opposition

A further obstacle to Milei’s reforms is that he will not be the philosopher-king of every libertarian’s dreams. He will not be a dictator.

He will simply be the head of the executive in a constitutional parliamentary democracy, with strictly circumscribed powers.

And the elections did not result in a similar landslide in the legislature.

Argentina has a 72-seat Senate, or upper house, and a 257-seat Chamber of Deputies, or lower house. Together, they make up the Argentinian National Congress.

In both houses, Milei’s libertarian coalition, Liberty Advances (La Libertad Avanza, or LLA) took more seats from the conservative coalition, Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio, or JxC), than from the socialist Peronista coalition, Union for the Homeland (Unión por la Patria, or UxP).

In the Senate, this leaves the Peronistas as the largest coalition, with 32 seats. It would need 37 seats to command an outright majority. The conservative coalition, JxC, retains only 27 seats. As the third-largest party in the Senate, Milei’s LLA only has six seats, which even in coalition with the conservatives is not enough for an outright majority.

In the lower house, the picture is similar. UxP has 104 out of 257 seats, JxC has 93, and LLA has 38. The only difference is that here, a JxC and LLA coalition can command a simple majority.

This leaves Milei at the mercy first of the conservatives, who would welcome market-oriented reforms and a departure from socialism, but by their very nature would be reluctant to endorse Milei’s more radical, disruptive proposals. Once Milei has cleared that hurdle, he needs to gather a majority in the upper house, which will be even harder.

Argentina is also heavily indebted, including to the International Monetary Fund, and creditors are likely to have a say in how the country is run. Anything that scares them will raise the cost of credit, which Argentina can ill afford.

Wait and see

Once the initial euphoria of seeing a true libertarian in power has cleared, then, we are left with the sobering realisation that Milei may not be able to achieve anywhere near as much as he has promised.

Turning failing countries around is not for the faint-hearted, and it always comes with social upheaval and economic pain.

Even if Milei gets the good ship Argentina pointed in the right direction again, the prevailing winds and currents may still dash it – and its captain – upon the rocks.

Read also:

*Ivo Vegter is a freelance journalist, columnist and speaker who loves debunking myths and misconceptions, and addresses topics from the perspective of individual liberty and free markets.

This article was first published by Daily Friend and is republished with permission

Visited 57 times, 57 visit(s) today

Milei, who describes himself as an "anarcho-capitalist", has vowed to end decades of socialist mismanagement and implement radical reforms, including abolishing ministries and dollarising the economy.

He has promised to slash state spending and reduce the size of the government, with plans to abolish ten of the government's 18 ministries.

Milei has also announced plans to do away with the central bank and introduce a new economic model, which he believes will bring about a freer, market-oriented Argentina.

Since taking office, Milei has already implemented some changes, including adjusting the value of the Argentinian currency, terminating contracts of public employees with less than one year of service, and increasing the prices of basic services and public transportation.

Title:

Content: Streets of Argentina Ablaze with Dissent as Milei’s Controversial Reforms Ignite Outrage

In a stunning turn of events, Argentina has become a battleground for public discontent following President Javier Milei’s introduction of a series of controversial proposals. Thousands of Argentinians have taken to the streets, enraged by the president’s push for drastic cuts to public spending.

Milei’s latest measures, unveiled on Wednesday evening, aim to revolutionize Argentina’s struggling economy through a variety of initiatives. These include deregulating the government and opening up state-run industries for privatization in order to spur both exports and investment.

However, the people’s outrage has manifested in widespread protests, often met with a heavy police presence. Gathering in front of the Argentine Congress, hundreds of demonstrators made their opposition to Milei’s proposals known.

Undeterred by the dissent, Milei appeared on national television to defend his agenda and offer reassurances of a prosperous future. He asserted, “Our objective is to rebuild our nation, restore individual freedom and autonomy, and dismantle the myriad of regulations that have impeded our economic growth for far too long.”

Acknowledging the mounting protests, Milei’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, announced new measures aimed at maintaining public order. These measures grant federal forces the power to disperse protesters blocking streets without requiring a judicial order, and authorize the police to use video or digital evidence to identify and hold accountable those obstructing public thoroughfares. Moreover, the legislation empowers the state to apportion the costs of mobilizing security forces to the protesters themselves.

Milei’s presidential victory was built upon a campaign centered around reducing public spending. Since assuming office, he has already made significant changes to the country’s financial landscape. The value of the Argentinian currency has been adjusted, contracts of public employees with less than one year of service have been terminated, and the prices of basic services and public transportation have seen notable increases.

FAQ:

Q: What are President Milei’s proposals?

A: President Milei’s proposals include deregulating the government and allowing the privatization of state-run industries to boost exports and investment.

Q: Why are Argentinians protesting?

A: Thousands of Argentinians are protesting against Milei’s proposals due to their belief that the drastic cuts to public spending will adversely impact their lives.

Q: How is the government responding to the protests?

A: In response to the protests, the government has announced new measures to maintain public order, empowering federal forces to disperse protesters without a judicial order and enabling the identification of those obstructing public thoroughfares through video or digital means.

Q: What changes has Milei already implemented?

A: Since taking office, Milei has adjusted the value of the Argentinian currency, terminated contracts of public employees with less than one year of service, and increased the prices of basic services and public transportation.

(Sources: Information gathered from local news outlets)

How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

Milei's approach to Congress is symbolic of a decades-old strategy of "neoliberal parliamentarism", which involves deliberate efforts to reform or subvert legislative processes.

Title:

Content: Argentina’s Javier Milei’s “Instant Democracy” and Neoliberalism

Javier Milei, YouTube screen grab.

Self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” Javier Milei became the president of Argentina in December 2023 promising “drastic” measures to temper the inflation crisis that has gripped the country. In the weeks since his election, Milei has brought forward an ambitious neoliberal restructuring program encompassing almost every aspect of the government.

Milei’s agenda confronts considerable opposition in Congress, where his governing coalition, Libertad Avanza, holds only a fraction of the seats. To adjust to these circumstances, Milei has cultivated a strategy of “turbo-politics,” bypassing legislative processes that risk delaying the implementation of his state reorganization plans.

Milei’s approach to Congress is symbolic of a decades-old strategy I have elsewhere called “neoliberal parliamentarism.” This concept describes a pattern of deliberate efforts to reform or subvert legislative institutions as a means of facilitating neoliberal reforms that do not have sufficient popular support to be actualized through usual democratic channels. These changes, even when temporary, often leave long-term scars on institutions by weakening norms of institutional forbearance.

The Emergency Decree and the Omnibus Bill

Milei has followed this blueprint, insulating the core elements of his agenda from democratic influence. The dismantling of the Argentine state began in earnest in mid-December when the executive branch presented an 83 page Necessity and Urgency Decree (NDU) aimed at repealing over 300 various laws and regulations, facilitating the privatization of core public assets.

This “mega-decree,” Milei claimed, was necessary to “start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth”. It includes sweeping economic deregulation, such as the elimination of regulations on Argentina’s supermarket laws, which required the guarantee of low prices on basic products. It also includes measures to eliminate rent controls. Suggested labour reforms to cut pregnancy leave and increase the job probation period were suspended by the courts in January 2024.

Less than a week after issuing the NDU, the executive branch sent a massive omnibus bill titled Foundations and Starting Points for the Freedom of the Argentine People to Congress for consideration. The bill bundles the major elements of Milei’s neoliberal restructuring initiatives under the heading of a single piece of legislation with 664 articles. It will enable the government to carry out, in a matter of weeks, what would normally take years to achieve if these reforms were considered independently and subjected to the usual legislative scrutiny.

Reforms from the 351 page bill include an extraordinary provision declaring a state of public emergency on matters related to the economy, fiscal balance, social security, defence, health, and administration.

The emergency declaration delegates more than 1,000 extraordinary powers from the legislative to the executive until December 31, 2025, with the possibility of a two-year extension. This provision would enable Milei to make major reforms without having to consult Congress, thus eliminating a major hurdle to the implementation of neoliberal reforms.

Authors of the bill are attempting to facilitate the privatization of 41 state-owned companies across various sectors including energy, aviation, port administration, and agriculture. They also enable the reorganization of public administration, including embedding regulatory cuts from the NDU into law.

Additionally, the omnibus legislation proposes substantial reforms to environmental protection laws. These changes include the weakening of the Glacier Protection Law, allowing the mining of sensitive “periglacial” areas. The bill is presently being rushed through the legislative process by way of Extraordinary sessions of Congress, leading to marathon sittings during Argentina’s usual summer recess period.

“It’s impossible for people to have an idea of the enormous number of proposals Milei has sent,” said Ricardo Gil Laverda, a constitutional lawyer and former Argentine Justice Minister. “They cover dozens and dozens and dozens of laws, often on deep topics.”

To influence negotiations, Milei has threatened to put forward a non-binding referendum if the opposition parties do not agree to the main terms of his restructuring plan. Milei has also threatened to take away social welfare rights from protesters who block streets.

Despite these efforts, however, the reality of Milei’s lack of Congressional support has led him to compromise on some elements of his agenda as it makes its way through the legislative process. Although the structure of the bill remains, opposition politicians have made more than 100 changes to it, including curtailing the scope of the President’s emergency powers to one year rather than two, and retaining YPF, the national oil and gas company, in public hands, despite allowing most other state-owned companies to remain subject to privatization.

Neoliberalism and the Decline of the Legislature

Argentina is not unique. This most recent example of legislative subversion is a familiar tactic used to accommodate neoliberal restructuring, that has been utilized repeatedly by neoliberal reformers in recent decades, including the IMF-sanctioned omnibus bill rammed through Greece’s parliament in 2014.

This approach to the legislature is the consequence of the political limitations of neoliberal policy, which is opposed by considerable segments of society. A blueprint for this strategy is spelled out by former New Zealand Minister of Finance Roger Douglas in his 1993 book, Unfinished Business. The book recalls lessons from his experience implementing a neoliberal agenda dubbed ‘Rogernomics’ in the 1980s against the headwinds of widespread social and political opposition.

Douglas claimed it is “uncertainty, not speed, that endangers the success of structural reform programmes.” Neoliberal reforms should not be passed incrementally, but as a rupture, moving in “quantum leaps” to overcome popular opposition.

Democratic processes are typically slow and deliberate, designed to enable the legislative body to scrutinize the executive, foster compromise, and encourage debate. It was necessary, therefore, to streamline the democratic process to ensure that politicians could neither interfere with, nor demand meaningful changes to, neoliberal reorganization efforts.

Neoliberal governments should confront the legislature, not as an essential element of the process of democracy, but an instrument used by politicians and vested interests to interfere with the operations of the marketplace. “Speed is essential. It is almost impossible to go too fast,” Douglas said. “Once the programme begins to be implemented, don’t stop until you have completed it.”

This tactic did not occur in a vacuum, but emerged intrinsically from the content of a neoliberal theoretical framework that views democratic institutions as an additional layer of state administration to be overcome. Neoliberal thought is deeply skeptical in the capabilities of reason to infer or predict causality. Given the limitations of the mind, society should be governed, not by conscious modelling and careful planning, but according to spontaneous or “invisible hand” forms of social organization, which are the outcome of independent, unplanned individual decisions.

This position is most clearly expressed by Friedrich Hayek, who claimed that parliamentary sovereignty was in fact the “root of the evil” in modern society, since it facilitated the growth of the state. Legislatures constituted one limb of what Milton Friedman called the “iron triangle” of politicians, bureaucrats, as well as corporate and individual special interests that were perpetually reliant upon the government for rents, and therefore had an interest in obstructing market reforms.

‘Instant Democracy’ and the Rise of ‘Neoliberal Populism’

What should we make of Milei’s approach to Congress, then? Is it reflective of a new pattern in neoliberal governance, or merely the extension of an old one? The answer is both. While Milei’s approach clearly shares categorial similarities with the neoliberal legislative blueprint built for speed, his blending of these ideas with a coarse, populist rhetoric grounded in anti-statism, signifies an intensification of these patterns.

Milei’s populist neoliberal worldview contributes to a rising trend among far-right governments around the world to use this rhetoric to rationalize the subversion of democracy. This kind of “neoliberal populism” conflates democratic institutions with political actors, claiming that they are instruments of obstruction for self-serving politicians and bureaucrats.

This is a view Milei has proudly declared. “For me, the state is an enemy, as are the politicians who live off it,” he said. “We will put an end to the parasitic, stupid, useless political caste that is sinking this country.”

Grounded in the same logic as neoliberalism’s conventional demand for freedom from the state, democratic institutions increasingly appear as impediments to the logic of the marketplace. The elimination of cumbersome legislative processes, then, removes the obstacles that restrain market forces, generating popular economic independence, and restoring common-sense. This inverts the logic of democracy, making it appear as though executive rule is necessary to protect the interests of “the People” from Friedman’s “iron triangle.”

The anti-parliamentarism at the core of the neoliberal theoretical outlook has increasingly transformed into a populist program that mobilizes a general dissatisfaction with politicians against democratic institutions as such. Neoliberal politicians, such as Milei, use this reasoning to manufacture the conditions for the ongoing use of emergency powers and the concentration of authority in the executive branch.

The global elite, sensing “the smell of a big privatization wave coming,” are said to be “infatuated” with his take-no-prisoners approach to Congress. Thus, although not a new phenomenon, Milei’s brand of “instant democracy,” which conceives of speed and flexibility as the essence of legislative governance, has the support of both the financial elite as well as a growing populist dimension, giving it the hallmarks of a burgeoning political movement of the most regressive kind.

As the institutional forbearance that restrained most neoliberal governments to stay within the confines of liberal democratic constitutional structures continues to give way to a logic that sees the legislature as subordinate to the market, it is likely that we will continue to see the erosion of democratic standards.

Tom McDowell is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of Neoliberal Parliamentarism: The Decline of Parliament at the Ontario Legislature (University of Toronto Press, 2021).

He has cultivated a strategy of "turbo-politics", bypassing legislative processes that risk delaying the implementation of his state reorganization plans.

Milei's economic reform plans have been met with skepticism, with some awaiting the true impact of his ambitious plans in a nation grappling with deep-rooted economic struggles.

With 56% of the vote in the head-to-head race, Milei has become the first libertarian president, not only of Argentina, but in the world.

His presidency marks a significant shift in Argentina's governance and society, with potential implications for the country's future.

Title:

Content: 【 Printing 】
【 Page 1 Page 2 】
Argentina's new president deserves international attention
Related LINKS http: / / www.CRNTT.com 2023-12-13 00: 57: 45
Argentina's new president, Mille.
HONG KONG, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Michael N. Peterson, a scholar at George Mason University in the United States, posted on Eurasia Review on December 9 that Millet is very friendly to the market and claims to alienate China. Relation.
No matter how the actual situation develops, Argentina, as an important part of the “Belt and Road ” and“ BRICS ” countries, its new president ’ s domestic and foreign policies do deserve the attention of the international community.
Here is the original compilation:
Argentina has just elected its new president, Javier Milei, an energetic, disheveled economist who has come up with pro-market ideas to reform the country ’ s economy.
After decades of Belondism rule, Argentina is now home to the first liberal head of state in modern history, a feat that many in the media seem to have missed.
Even before the official results were announced, voters felt that the general trend was turning in favor of the liberal candidate. With his signature style, Millet won 21 of the 24 provinces, attracting more than 14 million votes, the most votes for a single candidate in Argentina ’ s history.
As we all know, Argentina was one of the richest economies in the world at the beginning of the 20th century.
Before the country embarked on a socialist path, Argentina embraced free markets and limited government.
In his speeches, Millet often praised Juan Bautista Alberdi, who helped design Argentina ’ s 1853 constitution and created the initial conditions for the country ’ s economic prosperity for the next 80 years.
An admirer of Thomas Jefferson, Alberti echoed the very similar libertarian themes that Millais was trying to revive.
But for some reason, many see Millet ’ s victory as yet another triumph of the populist wave, a view that mixes Millet ’ s eccentric style with a genuine populist agenda.
While Trump and other populist leaders have called for a protectionist program to protect their workers from foreign competition, Millet advocates the opposite.
In fact, Millet ’ s victory speech directly invited the international community to join Argentina ’ s free-market revolution.
Even Elon Musk acknowledged the importance of Millet's victory, writing that "Argentina's prosperity lies ahead".
【 Page 1 Page 2 】
【 Printing 】
Related News: