With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, voice cloning has become more accessible and sophisticated than ever before. While this technology opens doors to various applications, from entertainment to accessibility, it also raises significant legal and ethical concerns, especially when it comes to privacy, consent, and potential misuse.
Generative AI has driven an unprecedented advancement of voice technologies, resulting in the ability to create hyper-realistic audio deepfakes and voice clones. With a short recording of someone’s voice, there are multiple tools available that can be used to create voice clones. They can be used to generate speech that is virtually indistinguishable from that of the original speaker. Paired with text-to-speech (TTS) technology, a cloned voice can speak whatever can be typed. By integrating with conversational AI technology, we can communicate with intelligent voicebots in real time as we do with humans. The benefits of voice cloning are just beginning to be recognized, from revolutionizing content creation with realistic voiceovers to providing personalized customer service experiences, to assisting individuals with speech impairments or language barriers.
Voice cloning is an AI technology that replicates a person’s voice with a high degree of accuracy, capturing their tone, pitch, accent, and even the unique quirks of their speech. By training on audio samples of the target voice, AI models can produce synthetic speech that sounds nearly identical to the original speaker. While voice cloning has legitimate applications—such as voiceovers, customer service, and accessibility for those who have lost their voice—it can also be used maliciously to create deepfake audio, impersonate individuals, or spread misinformation.
Voice cloning without consent is a clear violation of privacy. Individuals have a right to control how their likeness, including their voice, is used. Unauthorized use of a cloned voice for commercial purposes, pranks, or to harm someone’s reputation can be grounds for a legal claim.
Deepfake audio created using voice cloning can be used to fabricate statements that an individual never made, potentially leading to defamation. If a cloned voice is used to spread false information or to harm a person’s reputation, the creator and distributor of such content could be held liable under defamation laws.
The right of publicity protects an individual’s control over the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, or voice. This right is especially crucial for public figures and celebrities. Using a cloned voice to endorse products or services without authorization can lead to significant legal consequences.
Cloned voices can be used in scams, such as impersonating someone to gain access to personal or financial information. In such cases, perpetrators may face charges related to fraud, identity theft, and other criminal activities.
The effectiveness of measures against voice cloning and other frauds depends on their adaptability, cost, feasibility and regulatory compliance.
All stakeholders — government, citizens, and law enforcement — must stay vigilant and raise public awareness to reduce the risk of victimisation.
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