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It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

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Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#71

What's the feasibility of signed ads/speech verified on the device (tv, phone, etc.)?

Would require a lot of client support, which probably means it's never going to happen, but you could definitely sign the audio stream and have your player display the signature information to match it to a certificate via some https-like root store program where you can verify the audio is signed by the speaker.

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#72

It is scary for sure. We were heading towards a brave new world even before chatGPT, where what's real was no longer to be taken for granted and you couldn't trust your eyes and ears. ChatGPT has just hastened things. I'm sure a new market will emerge for authentication services that verify the speaker or the person in the video similar to how we had twitter verified checkmark. On the flip side I can't wait for someo…

You've described Black Mirror, season 2, episode 1: "Be Right Back".

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#73

I think he's right about this—things are going to get weird and ugly and people aren't prepared for what's coming. Here's my suggestion for safeguarding your sanity in the years ahead: find the people and the blogs you love, embrace RSS, block or avoid everything else, read old books, stop listening to podcasts, revert to email as the primary channel for occasional "social" correspondence, abandon all side projects t…

I agree with most of your advice, especially "go outside" ... but I don't understand why one should "stop listening to podcasts". Do you mean stop listening to podcasts which discuss current events? Because there are plenty of good podcasts which don't. Also, I think this is good advice even without the proliferation of deepfakes or GPT spam. I already abandoned social media in favor of small group chats and Real Lif…

https://www.bradeast.org/blog/quit-podcasts

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#74
post #34

So who's going to build the sex phone line where you can talk to celebrities like Marilyn Monroe?

For some folks , they would just want to have a conversation with your favorite actor, author, celebrity psychologist just for fun.

Now there's an idea! Chat with a psychologist using your dead parents voices. I wonder what Freud would make of that.

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#75
post #6

I tried ElevenLabs and it is truly amazing. You don't need much audio to train it and the final result can be incredible. I shared some of the snippets with friends and relatives and after the intitial scare (same as John) we agreed that the outcome wouldn't be different than a few years ago... We had impersonators for decades, so what have stopped political parties to hire an impersonator to create fake audios? The…

The samples are amazing, but it doesn't support other languages yet? And you have to pay to try clone a voice via sample MP3/4 file. Also, I hope it supports more payment methods later e.g. Paypal, for one time fee.

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#77
post #6

I tried ElevenLabs and it is truly amazing. You don't need much audio to train it and the final result can be incredible. I shared some of the snippets with friends and relatives and after the intitial scare (same as John) we agreed that the outcome wouldn't be different than a few years ago... We had impersonators for decades, so what have stopped political parties to hire an impersonator to create fake audios? The…

The difference is the scale, speed, and cost. You have to at least find an impersonator who can do a passable impersonation of the target, which may be a tall order. They can't impersonate everyone perfectly, and the really good ones are probably busy and/or expensive. Anyone can use this. Kids could use it.

Is it? The examples given in the OP are remarkably uninspired, specifically mentioning "a recording of Joe Biden forgetting his own name or what year it is, or Kamala Harris claiming to be running an abortion clinic." At that level of course you can already easily find a high-quality impersonator if you wanted to.

What kinds of stuff are kids going to use this for that is dangerous? Fake their parents to call in sick to school?

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#78

It is scary for sure. We were heading towards a brave new world even before chatGPT, where what's real was no longer to be taken for granted and you couldn't trust your eyes and ears. ChatGPT has just hastened things. I'm sure a new market will emerge for authentication services that verify the speaker or the person in the video similar to how we had twitter verified checkmark. On the flip side I can't wait for someo…

Along this line of thinking, I try to capture a 20 minute video of random conversation during each family vacation. Just set prop up the camera and record.

When we take trips, I like to record a retrospective. Just things like what did you like/dislike/find interesting. They feel awkward but then they don’t.

Re: It’s Game over on Vocal Deepfakes

#79
This feels so over-the-top. "A recording of Joe Biden forgetting his own name or what year it is, or Kamala Harris claiming to be running an abortion clinic?" Give me a break, you could already have done this with a high-quality voice impersonator -- cost is no real concern at that level anyway.

I think this is only really a risk at the low end -- people scamming others with fake references from quasi-celebrities. Not great, but overall feels pretty minor of a concern. We already allow the carriers to scam everyone in the US by allowing anyone to call your cell phone and try to tell you you're behind on your insurance, or that your computer has a virus. There's plenty of scams out there, if we really thought this was a problem, we'd care more about the existing ones.

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