AI Voice Synthesis Technology
Specific Purpose: To inform the audience the good and bad of the advancement in AI
Voice Synthesis Technology.
INTRODUCTION
HOOK: In 2022, Darth Vader returned to screens in live action after 6 years in the Obi
Wan Kenobi mini series. However, his duologue felt different, even though it was still
James Earl Jones. Fast forward to 2023, and the technology allowing Jones to step
back from voicing Vader advanced even further, and it was announced that the general
public would be able to use it. This opened so many doors, from memes to the return of
The Beatles.
SINGLE SENTENCE THESIS: Today I’ll be discussing the impact AI voice synthisis
technology has had on the world.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: According to AutoGPT on January 18, 2024, AI synthesis
is significant because “With the advancements in AI-generated voices, the technology is
transforming how we interact with digital content, making it more engaging and
accessible.” Although this was a huge advance in AI technology, there have also been
concerns about the advancements it has made. From ethics to security, AI synthesis
technology has also opened up doors for people to use it maliciously.
PREVIEW STATEMENT: I’ll first be going over the impact this technology has had on the
entertainment industry, then the ethical concerns this technology might bring up, and
finally the impact it has had on cyber security.
BODY
I. Let’s start by discussing how AI has revolutionized certain aspects of the
entertainment industry, along with the music industry.
A. The Beatles released a song named, “Now and Then” was, at one point,
unusable due to the demo tape being extremely rough and John Lenon being
killed before the song could be properly recorded.
a. A documnetery about the song was released on Disney Plus alongside the
single’s release.
B. As I mentioned before, AI is allowing him to step back from his role as Darth
Vader, with him only recording a handful of lines and allowing Lucasfilm and
Disney to use AI for the rest of Vader’s dialogue.
a. According to The Verge on September 24, 2022, “Despite the studio’s use of
AI for Vader’s voice, Wood says Jones takes on the role of a “benevolent
godfather,” and still helps guide the studio’s depiction of the villain.”
b. It was also said that AI was also used to deage Mark Hamil’s voice in the
second season of The Mandalorian along with The Book of Boba Fett
TRANSITION: Now, even though AI is allowing deceased rock stars to sing one last
song and allowing iconic voices to be used long after the original voice actor retired, AI
could be used to replace actors or singers without their permission.
II. Ethics are a pretty big reason to why people are hesitant on accepting AI as a new
tool. What’s stopping big companies or even random people from having someone say
a couple lines and then using AI for the rest of the production.
A. Disney is a huge culprit when it comes to using AI in order to make shortcuts and
to cheapen production costs as seen from their use of Deepfakes and
facescaning in previous Star Wars installments along in at least one Marvel
series.
a. In 2016, Disney and Lucasfilm received some pushback when they added
deepfaked versions of Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rouge One due to
the actor being dead for 22 years at that point.
i. Peter Cushing played Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars movie,
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, all the way back in 1977.
b. Recently, Disney and Marvel have been caught scanning extras in the
Wandavision series in order to save money on hiring extras in the future.
B. Since Voice Synthesis/AI can be used by the general public, people have been
able to make singers sing anything.
a. Examples of people doing this would be Freddy Mercury singing Thriller or
even other YouTubers like Jschlatt singing Gangnam Style as discovered in a
video Schlatt made on the topic which was also an inspiration for this speech.
TRANSITION: Lastly, the accessibility of AI gives people with even worse intentions a
new tool to exploit.
III. Scammers have now been using AI deep fakes to steal from banks.
A. As reported by Emily Flitter and Stacey Cowley at The New York Times, banks
would receive calls from people who were actually scammers trying to get money
out of people’s accounts, with one case of a scammer trying to call right after a
would be victim of a scam.
B. Scammers target wealthier people with an online presence, using recordings of
the victim and using AI to read out a script.
a. Scammers can esetally grab the audio from a video of their victim and plug it
into a software such as VALL-E and have it read out the script with it sounding
pretty believable.
CONCLUSION
REVIEW: Now to recap, I first went over the impact this technology has had on the
entertainment industry, then the ethical concerns this technology might bring up, and
finally the impact it has had on cyber security.
LASTING THOUGHT: Even though there’s been some misuse of AI, the significance of
it’s evolution still needs to be recognized and appreciated.
Work Cited
Matt. “The Future of Voice Synthisis with AI”. AutoGPT. Mindstream. January 18, 2024
https://autogpt.net/the-future-of-voice-synthesis-withai/#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20AI%20voice,it%20more%20engaging
%20and%20accessible.
Welch, Chris. “The Beatles’ Final Song is Now Streaming Thanks to AI”
The Verge. Vox Media, LLC. November 2,2023
https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/2/23943290/now-and-then-the-beatles-newsong-ai
Roth, Emma. “James Earl Jones Plans to Step Away From His Role as Darth Vader,
But
a Ukranian Startup Help Keep Jones’ Legendary Voice Alive”
The Verge. Vox Media, LLC. September 24,2022
https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/24/23370097/darth-vader-james-earl-jonesobi-wan-kenobi-star-wars-ai-disney-lucasfilm
Orange, B.Alan. “Lucasfilm Responds to Rogue One CG Character Backlash”.
MovieWeb. Valent Inc. December 27, 2016
https://movieweb.com/rogue-one-tarkin-leia-cg-character-backlash-lucasfilm/
Jirak, Jamie. “WandaVision Actor Reveals Marvel Digitally Scanned All Background
Performers ‘They Won’t Have Any Use For Us’”. ComicBook. ComicBook.com
August 2, 2023
https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/wandavision-marvel-studios-digitallyscanned-all-background-actors-they-wont-have-any-use-for-us/
Jschlatt. jschlattLIVE. “AI Song Covers Need to Stop”. December 15, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PXMDqZcy9U
Flitter, Emily. Cowley, Stacy. “Voice Deepfakes Are Coming For Your Bank Balance”.
The New York Times. The New York Times Co. April 30, 2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/30/business/voice-deepfakes-bankscams.html