An AI startup that lets anyone clone a target’s voice in a matter of seconds is being rapidly embraced by internet trolls. 4chan users have been flocking to free voice synthesis platform ElevenLabs, using the company’s tech to clone the voices of celebrities and read out audio ranging from memes and erotica to hatespeech and misinformation.
THE 21st CENTURY ISN’T TURNING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: 4chan users embrace AI voice clone tool to generate celebrity hatespeech.
Such AI voice deepfakes have improved rapidly over the past few years, but ElevenLabs’ software, which seems to have opened up general access over the weekend, offers a potent combination of speed, quality, and availability — as well as a complete lack of safeguards.
Abuse of ElevenLabs’ software was first reported by Motherboard, which found posters on 4chan sharing AI generated voice clips that sound like famous individuals including Emma Watson and Joe Rogan. As Motherboard’s Joseph Cox reports:
In one example, a generated voice that sounds like actor Emma Watson reads a section of Mein Kampf. In another, a voice very similar to Ben Sharpio makes racist remarks about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In a third, someone saying ‘trans rights are human rights’ is strangled.
It’s an unintentionally viral ad for ElevenLabs, which I hadn’t heard of before this story broke last night, and looks like a product that will have all sorts of narration and recording uses.