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Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

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171–180 of 207 posts

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#171
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voices are uncopyrightable, but impersonation isn't legal (see Midler v. Ford, for a notable case), so I don't think the situation is totally clear.

> voice actors are fearing that the ability for generative AI to replicate their voices may cost them work I'm not sure how to feel about that. I'm against the idea that some people "deserve" being paid for being lucky born with an interesting voice. On the other hand, the world always worked like that. And, say, hard-working farmer or doctor were also lucky being born with necessary traits to make for their living,…

> that some people "deserve" being paid for being lucky born with an interesting voice

Majority of success is attained like this though. Athletes paid for being born strong tall and fast, models paid for being pretty, rich families being paid for being born rich, smart people being paid for being born smart, or hardworking, etc. It's the most dominant factor everywhere.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unmetered 10+ gigabit connections were on the order of $1/mbit/mo wholesale over a decade ago when I priced out a custom CDN so for the cost of 100 TB of data transfer out of AWS you could get a 24/7 sustained 10gbit/s (>3 PB per month at 100% utilization). Bandwidth has always been crazy cheap.

Indeed. If you're not using a cloud provider bandwidth is extremely cheap. In fact locally I can get a 10 gbps home internet unmetered connection for $300/mo. I'm not sure how they'd react if I transferred 1 PB/mo though :)

That’s pretty expensive. Sonic offers 1-10gbps (depending on where you live) unmetered symmetric connections for $60/mo to the Bay Area… they’re also the only ISP that petitioned the FCC in favor of net neutrality.

For work I end up transferring 50-150 gigs often, sometimes daily. Never heard a word from them that this has been a problem.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#175
Wow. I just realized any one of us could redo Weird Al's songs with his lyrics, but with the original singer's voice. We could be listening to Michael Jackson singing "Just Eat It" by lunchtime.

I am constantly amazed at how the new AI tech can be used.

Of course this would be illegal under most countries copyright laws.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#176

Wow. I just realized any one of us could redo Weird Al's songs with his lyrics, but with the original singer's voice. We could be listening to Michael Jackson singing "Just Eat It" by lunchtime. I am constantly amazed at how the new AI tech can be used. Of course this would be illegal under most countries copyright laws.

And...they already did it.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#177

Wow. I just realized any one of us could redo Weird Al's songs with his lyrics, but with the original singer's voice. We could be listening to Michael Jackson singing "Just Eat It" by lunchtime. I am constantly amazed at how the new AI tech can be used. Of course this would be illegal under most countries copyright laws.

There's also a Weird Al piece "I think I'm a clone now", for which an AI clone voice performance would definitely be fitting. (The original song was "I think we're alone now" by Tommy James and the Shondells, but it seems Weird Al was parodying the cover by Tiffany in the 1980's.)

While Weird Al himself asks for permission, it's well established that parody is not copyright infringement. There should be room for parody performances by AI voices as well, especially if argued by a good lawyer.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#178
post #177

Wow. I just realized any one of us could redo Weird Al's songs with his lyrics, but with the original singer's voice. We could be listening to Michael Jackson singing "Just Eat It" by lunchtime. I am constantly amazed at how the new AI tech can be used. Of course this would be illegal under most countries copyright laws.

There's also a Weird Al piece "I think I'm a clone now", for which an AI clone voice performance would definitely be fitting. (The original song was "I think we're alone now" by Tommy James and the Shondells, but it seems Weird Al was parodying the cover by Tiffany in the 1980's.) While Weird Al himself asks for permission, it's well established that parody is not copyright infringement. There should be room for paro…

Al is very self-aware (that second character is a lower-case ell), he's less concerned with legal entities than with his relationships with musicians.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have said this will initially be sold as a feature on things like Audiobooks. Pick your book, pick your reader and away it goes. The Diary of Anne Frank read by Gilbert Gottfried.

Not sure if your hypothetical was meant to be a reference to the absolutely hilarious classic “Gilbert Gottfried reads 50 Shades of Gray”, but it has me wondering how much of the inherent comedy comes from “the voice” and how much comes from the idea that the man himself sat down and recorded those lines. https://youtu.be/XkLqAlIETkA (Extremely NSFW without headphones)

> wondering how much of the inherent comedy comes from “the voice” and how much comes from the idea that the man himself sat down and recorded those lines

For me it came from the voice; I hadn't heard of Gilbert Gottfried as a specific person until I read this discussion. The reaction faces of the women listeners were also amusing.

Re: Weird A.I. Yankovic: a cursed deep dive into the world of voice cloning

#180
post #169
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interest groups == lobbyists in this case. Which might explain some of the American hesitation.

Well yes, you need to ask representatives of the people that will be impacted by a law what the impact will be, assess expert opinions, etc. Lobbying isn't only the American political bribery system, there's legitimate reasons behind it.

Of course! And that those with the deepest pockets are able to afford to have the most convincing folks spend the most time waiting for an opening in the various Representatives calendars is not surprising, and only natural.

That it often results in them getting an equivalent mindshare (or more) of the Representatives views is also not surprising, and only natural.

It doesn't inspire warm fuzzies in those too busy working to survive though.

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