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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

#461

Post by mike_d »

rcme wrote: post #458
Apocryphon wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong, all of that is great. But the capacity for even more spam calls and scammers generating fraudulent content with cloned voice samples will be an immensely annoying issue. Anyone who owns a phone in the modern age absolutely cannot be a Pollyanna when looking at this technology. There are real issues that must be addressed.

Is access to realistic voice really the limiting factor in spam calling?

Right now if your brother texts you and says they are stuck somewhere and need you to wire them $500, you call them and verify it is legitimate. That is the best answer we have for users.

Once your brothers voice has been cloned and generative AI can deep fake his face on a video call, we are pretty much screwed.

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

#462

Post by rcme »

mike_d wrote: post #461
rcme wrote: post #458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is access to realistic voice really the limiting factor in spam calling?

Right now if your brother texts you and says they are stuck somewhere and need you to wire them $500, you call them and verify it is legitimate. That is the best answer we have for users. Once your brothers voice has been cloned and generative AI can deep fake his face on a video call, we are pretty much screwed.

I usually just make sure the number is right.

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

#463

Post by spokeonawheel »

Natfan wrote: post #186

This is already being used for scams. https://playground.play.ht/listen/1079 ( https://archive.ph/HKjue ) How exactly do you expect to combat this type of content?

Sounds like old school AI, very similar to the spam problem google solved could easily take care of this.

Just stop it before they can generate it.

However. Its just a matter of time so I wouldnt put it on the author to stop this kind of stuff. The only defense is education.

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

#464

Post by bovermyer »

woodrowbarlow wrote: post #444
bovermyer wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd get a kick out of having my own blog posts read to me in James Earl Jones's voice. Or, heck, my own voice. Though it'd be surreal to hear not-me-but-me saying things I've never said.

even this is ethically questionable. james earl jones's voice is his livelihood.

While that is true, I'm not suggesting a pattern of behavior - just that it would be fun to hear.

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

#465

Post by jeroenhd »

Rubinsalamander wrote: post #386
jeroenhd wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would consider studios taking voice actors' voices and using them to generate new content beyond their contract to be abuse. I'm sure big corporations are rubbing their hands in anticipation, but I'm sure killing the VA industry will make the world just a tiny bit worse for everyone else. Mods are more difficult to attach a moral judgement to. I don't think I'd really consider them malicious, as long as they're not…

I think it will probably kill the current Business Model of the VA Industry. Having the ability to generate as much audio content as you like without the risk of the VA not being available anymore (dead, booked out,...) is just too good to pass up. Instead we will probably see licenses for generated voices. And in case for games the game developer could make the voice model freely available for mods of his game.(The…

Machine generated content cannot be copyrighted so I doubt companies will switch to AI generated voices for big games for that reason.

Voices can't be copyrighted either, so I don't see how a license for a generated voice would even work.

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

#466

Post by jeroenhd »

Izkata wrote: post #417
jeroenhd wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would consider studios taking voice actors' voices and using them to generate new content beyond their contract to be abuse. I'm sure big corporations are rubbing their hands in anticipation, but I'm sure killing the VA industry will make the world just a tiny bit worse for everyone else. Mods are more difficult to attach a moral judgement to. I don't think I'd really consider them malicious, as long as they're not…

Star Trek: Prodigy has already used audio from previous movies and TV to bring back to life several actors from previous series. It's not exactly the same as this, but their dialogue was taken out of context to create new scenes and story.

I know, and I almost wished they did use AI for that segment because it was pretty jarring (especially the TOS recordings).

There's still a huge difference between "reusing the work the studio paid for" and "recreating your voice forever after doing a single project".

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

#467

Post by jasonshen »

Congrats on the launch! I just tried this and while the tuning examples actually sounded more like me (a bit robotic but not bad for 20 seconds), the actual generations sounded nothing like me. It was some kind of aussie accent - like you're just modifying some existing voice to get a little closer to mine. Tried it with 2 different versions of myself - reading from text vs conversational and both times got this weird aussie accent.

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

#468

Post by juggli »

nico wrote: post #378
jeroenhd wrote: post #54

Listening to the demos I'm not entirely convinced by this ( https://playground.play.ht/listen/189 was pretty funny). I wonder if this company will end up taking down (and subsequently pricing out most people using this tech for fun) arbitrary voice generation just like its competitors have so far. Going to the demo page and hearing a random snippet of Musk-worship was pretty weird. Out of all audio tracks to place at…

> ( https://playground.play.ht/listen/189 was pretty funny) Warning to others wanting to click on the link: damn that was creepy.

damn. scared me

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

#469

Post by Apocryphon »

rcme wrote: post #462
mike_d wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now if your brother texts you and says they are stuck somewhere and need you to wire them $500, you call them and verify it is legitimate. That is the best answer we have for users. Once your brothers voice has been cloned and generative AI can deep fake his face on a video call, we are pretty much screwed.

I usually just make sure the number is right.

How would you do that if they're claiming they lost their phone and are thus calling for a pay phone or the phone in a police station?
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