AI-Driven Audio Cloning Startup Gives Voice To Einstein Chatbot (techcrunch.com) 23
Aflorithmic, an AI-driven audio cloning startup, has created a digital version of Albert Einstein using AI voice cloning technology drawing on audio records of the famous scientist's actual voice. TechCrunch reports: Alforithmic says the "digital Einstein" is intended as a showcase for what will soon be possible with conversational social commerce. Which is a fancy way of saying deepfakes that make like historical figures will probably be trying to sell you pizza soon enough, as industry watchers have presciently warned. The startup also says it sees educational potential in bringing famous, long-deceased figures to interactive "life." Or, well, an artificial approximation of it -- the "life" being purely virtual and Digital Einstein's voice not being a pure tech-powered clone either; Alforithmic says it also worked with an actor to do voice modelling for the chatbot (because how else was it going to get Digital Einstein to be able to say words the real-deal would never even have dreamt of saying -- like, er, "blockchain"?). So there's a bit more than AI artifice going on here too.
In a blog post discussing how it recreated Einstein's voice the startup writes about progress it made on one challenging element associated with the chatbot version -- saying it was able to shrink the response time between turning around input text from the computational knowledge engine to its API being able to render a voiced response, down from an initial 12 seconds to less than three (which it dubs "near-real-time"). But it's still enough of a lag to ensure the bot can't escape from being a bit tedious. The report notes that the video engine powering the 3D character rendering components of this "digital human" version of Einstein is the work of another synthesized media company, UneeQ, which is hosting the interactive chatbot version on its website.
In a blog post discussing how it recreated Einstein's voice the startup writes about progress it made on one challenging element associated with the chatbot version -- saying it was able to shrink the response time between turning around input text from the computational knowledge engine to its API being able to render a voiced response, down from an initial 12 seconds to less than three (which it dubs "near-real-time"). But it's still enough of a lag to ensure the bot can't escape from being a bit tedious. The report notes that the video engine powering the 3D character rendering components of this "digital human" version of Einstein is the work of another synthesized media company, UneeQ, which is hosting the interactive chatbot version on its website.
And the first thing it said was (Score:3, Funny)
"Why did you bring me back to a world of stupid?"
Re: (Score:2)
"Why did you bring me back to a world of stupid?"
It's Einstein.
He probably felt that way all the damn time.
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Developing an abstract mathematical theory is one thing; applying it to solve problems in physics is an entirely different beast.
Poincaré did a lot more than just developing mathematical theories: he was a mining and railroad engineer, and he worked on worldwide clock synchronization (transatlantic cables).
Beyond celebrities. (Score:2)
If you can take one person's voice in and map it to sound like dozens of different voices then you have a real product. This would give you the ability to use a single skilled voice actor to play every part in a script. You usually get a most fluid conversation when the voice actors hear the other part of the conversation, so this would facilitate that.
Take it a step further by combining both audio and video deepfake technology and you can have two actors play every part in a show/movie without needing to
Re: (Score:2)
Do many people know what Einstein actually sounded like? I don't think I've ever heard his voice, I guess because he was mostly active at a time when people didn't record academics or interview them on camera much.
They could give him Bug Bunny's voice and most people wouldn't know if it was accurate or not.
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If you can take one person's voice in and map it to sound like dozens of different voices then you have a real product.
This already exists, scammers use that tech all the time to impersonate people they have voiceprints of.
sigh (Score:2)
How the hell does anyone have the 'right' to inject words into the mouths of dead people? This will, ultimately, need looking into - the technology will ultimately be photo-realistic, and it won't sound hesitant and stunted in its conversations.
At that point, some random corporation will be able to commandeer the likeness - your likeness - the 'everything a person has spent a lifetime developing and curating, that makes them, 'them'', and use it for their own purposes? That... yeah. No.
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How the hell does anyone have the 'right' to inject words into the mouths of dead people?
When you're dead, you're fuckin' dead.
At that point, some random corporation will be able to commandeer the likeness - your likeness - the 'everything a person has spent a lifetime developing and curating, that makes them, 'them'', and use it for their own purposes?
They can already do that, but for the law. There's ways to do that without deepfakes. This is why you can't just pretend everything will be okay, you always have to participate in government. Otherwise it will turn around and bite you.
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There are plenty of dead people who it's probably best we don't hear from again - especially if it's with someone else's words in their mouths.
See Jesus. Mohammad. Kahless.
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It's way too late to save jesus, Saul already fucked him all up.
Still waiting on Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (Score:2)
She specifically did a full professional phonetic recording for voice synthesis purposes before she passed so that her voice could live on, and yet as far as I know it's not available in any form more than a decade later.
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She specifically did a full professional phonetic recording for voice synthesis purposes before she passed so that her voice could live on, and yet as far as I know it's not available in any form more than a decade later.
"She was best known for her roles as Nurse Christine Chapel in the original Star Trek series and Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as for being the voice of most onboard computer interfaces throughout the series"
Sounds like her voice is pretty well preserved. Far better than most, and right behind Hal and Siri.
Einstein Life (Score:1)
Yeah! It's Einstein come back to life!
Who cares? (Score:2)
Does anyone alive actually remember hearing Einstein's voice? he died in 1955. So, I could claim a Donald Duck imitation was Einstein's voice, and only about 5 people in the world would know any different.
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