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Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

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Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#311

Post by chatmasta »

achr2 wrote: post #55

The world is going to become a much worse place over the next few years. I want to be an optimist, but it will take huge leaps in humanity's societal structures for AI not to be a net negative for the vast majority of people on this planet in the short term.

Did the world become a much worse place when the internet arrived, or did the positives end up outweighing the negatives? There were a few years where Nigerian scammers could convince grandma they were a prince who needed a bank transfer, but eventually grandma figured out the scam. I don't see why AI would be any different - sure, there may be an increase in new scams for a few years, but people will learn and adapt, like they always have. And meanwhile the positive aspects of AI will have a positive impact on society. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater because we can imagine all the ways to abuse new technology.

Maybe instead of freaking out and trying to restrict innovation, we should be working on insurance products to mitigate the financial risk of scams, and educational content to reduce their effectiveness. The fact that many scams are even possible in the first place stems from the absurd idea that "identity theft" is your fault [0], so maybe we could start there.

If my bank uses my voice as my password, or if my phone company is willing to present fraudulent caller ID telling me it really is my son calling to ask for money, then is the problem really the scammers, or is it the easily defraudable systems with no incentives to reduce abuse of their platforms?

[0] https://youtube.com/watch?v=CS9ptA3Ya9E

Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#312

Post by fwlr »

marak830 wrote: post #218
skybrian wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may get your wish. The FTC posted an article about this a week ago. [1] > The FTC Act’s prohibition on deceptive or unfair conduct can apply if you make, sell, or use a tool that is effectively designed to deceive – even if that’s not its intended or sole purpose. It seems like an awfully broad rule? But they probably could go after this startup if they noticed it. There are some kinds of businesses where making…

(apologies for going off topic here) Wow. I would have imagined an article from the FTC to be more... Bland, for want of a better term.

The FTC consistently has one of the absolute best author voices in all of government. Pick a blog post at random and see what I mean. Their index on tech is probably the area you have the most domain knowledge in and so it’s probably the best area to evaluate them: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/term/1428

Clear, direct, confident, not overloaded with qualifiers, not afraid of metaphor, self-summarizing, signposting, and most importantly it always has an energy of some kind that government communication (in seeking to appear neutral) regularly lacks - having that energy is why it doesn’t feel “bland”. I wonder if they have internal documents to guide their writers, or if it’s mostly information stored in the heads of Lesley Fair and Michael Atleson (who between them seem write most - all? - of the posts).

Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#314

Post by barking_biscuit »

ros86 wrote: post #31
delgaudm wrote: post #4

How do you assert that the cloned voice has been truly permitted by the voice owner? I've had my voice cloned without my consent by other people using Descript and Eleven Labs. What is your process for verifying consent?

When I tried this service previously, you had to read (out loud) something saying that you were giving consent.

Just use another voice cloning service to do that.

Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#315

Post by perlwle »

Dowwie wrote: post #118

I recommend you immediately add identity verification (state-issued identification verification), set up appropriate secrets store for PII, and audit trail EVERYTHING your users are doing, storing the contents in a secure location. Yesterday. This service will be used to harm others, shortly. I do think that there are exciting, honest things that can be done with this service but you need to set up some friction for…

A couple in Canada were reportedly scammed out of $21,000 after getting a call from an AI-generated voice pretending to be their son.

https://www.businessinsider.com/couple-canada-reportedly-los...

Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#316

Post by coreyisthename »

cpill wrote: post #293
midenginedcoupe wrote: post #6

Well, nothing could possibly go wrong, eh? If your homepage is toadying up to Musk by claiming he has "limitless intellect" then I've already heard enough. We have a duty to consider how what we build can be used to harm others. If the obvious and many ways this could be abused aren't covered anywhere I can find on your website, then I'm going to conclude you haven't considered them. Which is terrible.

yeah, we should just make all AI research illegal. I mean, without gate keeper the world will fall apart! Did you know that you can draw and write _anything_ with a pencil! We need to get onto that next. And the internet, you can publish anything you want on there!

You seem to be intentionally missing the point.

Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#318

Post by Firmwarrior »

woeirua wrote: post #235
Firmwarrior wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cat's out of the bag, I'd say you guys should just go full steam ahead and make sure it's your names in the headlines No need for a bunch of onerous kyc or anything IMO

Yes, definitely take this advice from some random user on HN. Can't possibly go wrong.

I actually have one thousand HackerNews good boy points, so I'm kind of a big deal

I think that a few years from now this tech is going to be ubiquitous, real time, and work on a mobile device. Trying to slam the lid shut on Pandora's Box probably isn't going to work.. the best thing at this point would be for the word to get out to everyone that voices can now be doctored the same way photos can

Re: Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

#319

Post by gwerbret »

Given the very (very, VERY) obvious concerns associated with malicious deployment of this tech, and the minimal/largely ineffectual countermeasures deployed by the founders, what surprises me the most is that YC gave this startup its stamp of approval. It used to be that they offered at least a basic sanity check to anything they funded. Is this now getting lost as they scale up their funding operations?
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