OpenAI's voice cloning tool risks US Elections 2024

In recent months, a new kind of deepfake called vocal cloning has surfaced, in which your speech is mimicked by artificial intelligence (AI).

The newest IT giant to create voice cloning software is OpenAI, the company associated with ChatGPT, according to Daily Mail.

Within fifteen seconds of recorded speech, the unsettling technology can mimic the voice of any person.

It is also considered "too risky" for public use by OpenAI, especially during an election year.

"We recognise 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 company said in a statement.

On Friday, a little more than a week after submitting a trademark application for the moniker, OpenAI introduced the Voice Engine technology.

According to the business, all it takes is 15 seconds of recorded speech to replicate a person's voice.

Because of the risks associated with misuse, OpenAI states that it intends to preview the technology with early testers "but not widely release this technology at this time."

On the other hand, authorities in New Hampshire are looking into robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden and were placed to thousands of voters shortly before the presidential primary.

The technology for voice cloning is already being sold by a number of start-up businesses; some of it is available to the general public or specific commercial clients like film studios.