New AI voice-cloning tools ‘add fuel’ to misinformation fire
By Arijeta Lajka
In a video from a Jan. 25 news report, President Joe Biden talks about tanks. But a doctored version of the video has amassed hundred of thousands of views this week on social media, making it appear he gave a speech that attacks transgender people.
Digital forensics experts say the video was created using a new generation of artificial intelligence tools, which allow anyone to quickly generate audio simulating a person’s voice with a few clicks of a button. And while the Biden clip on social media may have failed to fool most users this time, the clip shows how easy it now is for people to generate hateful and disinformation-filled “deepfake” videos that could do real-world harm...
But even the ability to track creators won’t mitigate the tool’s harm, said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation.
“The damage is done,” he said.
As an example, Farid said bad actors could move the stock market with fake audio of a top CEO saying profits are down. And already there’s a clip on YouTube that used the tool to alter a video to make it appear Biden said the U.S. was launching a nuclear attack against Russia...
Professor Hany Farid has a joint appointment in electrical engineering & computer sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.
