OpenAI’s “Sky”: artistes worried over voice cloning
A news report (in Times of India) earlier this week headlined “AI is our enemy, say voiceover artistes battling voice cloning” came to me as no surprise. I had pointed out in my blog posted last year in May the dangers of the commercialization of artificial intelligence.
San Francisco-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which was launched on 30 November, 2022, became the fastest growing app in history when it had hit 100 million users in only two months. The technology’s lucrative potential had spurred companies into action.
However, leading AI experts have urged companies to take cautious approach and warned about the risks and dangers posed by the ground-breaking technology.
Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson recently alleged that the OpenAI had impersonated her voice. The Hollywood star said she was “shocked, angered and in disbelief” that the updated version of ChatGTP, which can listen to spoken prompts and respond verbally, had a voice “eerily similar” to hers.
Johansson expressed concern about the Sky, a voice mode feature for ChatGPT which OpenAI had released. People have found striking similarity between the Sky and the Hollywood actress’ voice in the film “Her” which was released in 2013.
OpenAI vehemently denied replicating Johansson’s voice, claiming they had hired a separate voice actress and the similarity was just coincidental. Johansson, however, reportedly secured legal representation and demanded more information from OpenAI. Johansson suspected that OpenAI was profiting by leveraging her voice similar to hers.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has temporarily suspended the “Sky” voice. The Johansson-OpenAI case will serve a cautionary tale and has prompted discussions on ethical considerations and the importance of clear boundaries in the realm of AI development.
Indian voiceover artiste Sanket Mhatre, dubbing for Hollywood superheroes, faces threat similar to Johansson.
Mauricio Bustos, a Chilean artiste, used his Youtube channel for years to try and break into the music industry. Then he discovered AI. Overnight, he made it big using others’ voice. He could rap like Bad Bunny and sing like Justin Bieber. He went viral. Now, he is at the forefront of a global debate: Is AI art really art?
The former CEO of Twitter and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, lamented that he had committed mistakes in forming the company that became OpenAI, the originator of game-changing ChatGPT artificial intelligence company.
He had regretted about the ChatGPT, saying he’s a ‘huge idiot’ for letting go of OpenAI.
Musk thinks the world is woefully unprepared for the impact of AI. The technology will hit people “like an asteroid”, he had said.
Even though Bill Gates had said he was “scared” about the technology falling into the wrong hands, he had dismissed Musk-backed plan to pause the AI research.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had said last year the technology had the potential to be used to manipulate voters and target disinformation especially in an election year in the US.
The AI tools, which have been developed by several firms, met with backlash from their critics for the potential to disrupt millions of jobs, spread misinformation and perpetuate biases.
Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “godfather of artificial intelligence” is particularly concerned that these tools could be trained to sway elections and even to wage war.
He had quit a high-profile job at Google especially to share his concerns that unchecked AI development could pose a danger to humanity.
Hinton said AI chatbots, for instance, could be the future version of election misinformation spread via Facebook and other social media platforms.
He also added: “Don’t think for a moment that Putin wouldn’t make hyper-intelligent robots with the goal of killing Ukranians.” He has suggested a global agreement similar to the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention might be a good first step toward establishing international rules against weaponized AI.
His concerns have been shared by the Center for AI safety, an organization dedicated to reducing the societal-scale risks from the artificial intelligence.
“Humans are more important than money,” says Yoshua Bengio, one of the pioneers of AI technology. He says he feels “lost” because of the direction that the AI is headed in.
The dangers of artificial intelligence remind me of Oppenheimer’s famous words: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
