OpenAI debuts voice cloning tool, but deems it too risky for public release

OpenAI has unveiled a tool for cloning people’s voices but is holding back on its public release due to concerns about possible misuse in a key election year. “We recognize that generating speech that resembles people’s voices has serious risks, which are especially top of mind in an election year,” the San Francisco-based start-up said. “We are engaging with U.S. and international partners from across government, media, entertainment, education, civil society and beyond to ensure we are incorporating their feedback as we build.” We're sharing our learnings from a small-scale preview of Voice Engine, a model which uses text input and a single 15-second audio sample to generate natural-sounding speech that closely resembles the original speaker. The company added that it believes the technology should only be rolled out with measures that ensure the “original speaker is knowingly adding their voice to the service” and prevent the “creation of voices that are too similar to prominent figures.” The misuse of AI has emerged as a major concern ahead of elections this year in countries representing about half the world’s population. OpenAI said it had implemented several safety measures for its partners testing Voice Engine, “including watermarking to trace the origin of any audio generated by Voice Engine, as well as proactive monitoring of how it’s being used”.