Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- OpenAI has introduced Voice Engine, a brand new AI system able to recreating human voices.
- The corporate is testing this product with “a small group of companies.”
- OpenAI is retaining it non-public for now to look at the potential (and apparent) risks.
OpenAI, the corporate behind ChatGPT, has been on a little bit of a roll recently. ChatGPT’s success has been astounding, in fact, however the firm additionally lately introduced Sora, a system able to creating 60-second video clips that look very practical. Now, the corporate has introduced a brand new system known as Voice Engine, which may recreate human voices (through The New York Instances).
Like Sora, OpenAI is just not permitting the general public to make use of Voice Engine — not less than not but. For now, the corporate is privately testing the system with “a small group of companies.” Clearly, the rationale it’s doing that is because of the large moral implications of a system that may mimic an actual particular person’s voice.
The New York Instances obtained to demo the system and shared some clips, which you’ll hear on the earlier hyperlink. The primary clip is a 16-second recording of an actual man with a thick Portuguese accent. He introduces himself and says he’s making this clip to “help non-verbal people categorical themselves extra totally.” The subsequent clip is Voice Engine’s recreation of his voice saying one thing utterly completely different. Yet one more clip is a recreation of the person’s voice however talking in Portuguese as an alternative of English.
Each Voice Engine clips don’t sound the identical as the unique clip. Nonetheless, they’re completely shut sufficient that it might most likely idiot somebody who knew that man’s voice into considering he truly stated these issues.
The scary factor about that’s the potential for utilizing a instrument like this to unfold misinformation. Politicians, celebrities, and journalists might simply have their voices co-opted by Voice Engine after which made to say something anybody wished. With a little bit enhancing and a convincing video monitor, who is aware of what might be carried out?
There are additionally voice authentication techniques used world wide for safety. It is extremely attainable Voice Engine might permit folks to trick these techniques, placing delicate info in danger.
“It is a delicate factor”
OpenAI product supervisor Jeff Harris stated, “It is a delicate factor, and it is very important get it proper.” OpenAI is experimenting with watermarking techniques to assist differentiate precise recordings from artificial ones. The workforce can be open in regards to the moral issues this technique brings up.
Nonetheless, additionally it is arguing Voice Engine might do plenty of good. For instance, individuals who might as soon as converse however misplaced their voice later in life might start to speak once more utilizing a facsimile of their very own voice. Physicist Stephen Hawking is a well-known instance of an individual who might have benefited from a voice service like this. Voice Engine might additionally protect the voices of people who find themselves now not alive and likewise work in lots of industrial settings, akin to within the creation of audiobooks.
OpenAI says it has no plans but for a public rollout of Voice Engine. Like Sora, it solely needs to display what it could do.
