The pace of new generative AI is absolutely astounding. If you are unfamiliar with how good AI already is at imitating real people, you need to read this!
You might know that I’ve gotten really into AI in the last few months, mostly thanks to participation in ASU’s AI Innovation Challenge. I’ve had a free premium license to ChatGPT but that was just the beginning! There are THOUSANDS of AI tools out there that can do just about anything.
When I was asked at work to explore generative AI tools for creating onboarding videos, I was hesitant. I feel that people are going to know that a voiceover was generated by AI and it’s not going to make a good first impression, particularly on new employees.
But truly, I am blown away by the quality of tools easily available on the market. A week ago I used a free account on Speechify to create an instant voice clone. The result was astonishing. Not only was the audio clear and natural, but it also perfectly captured the tone and pace of my voice. Take a listen:
The potential for perfect deepfakes is undeniable, especially when considering Synthesia’s recent announcement about their emoting avatars and their ability to make avatars on demand.
There are reasons to use cloned voices, of course. One of Speechify’s major advertised uses is to read text aloud in the voice of your choosing. This is a huge win for accessibility, to have human-sounding voices readily at head to make text easier to experience. AI voiceover is one method to offer a more inclusive way to access educational materials.
AI clones, like those by Synthesia, could also be used to make educational videos. Think of it: instant instructor presence, without the presence of the instructor. I have a lot of feelings about this! I will say that it will be a fast way to make high-quality content, but, I think the humanity of an instructor is better felt in typos and just-adequate recordings.
I’m excited about the potential of AI while also properly terrified. Until everyone knows how amazing these technologies already are, we’re going to have more cases like this principal whose career was destroyed by an AI deepfake.