Jennifer DeStefano answered a call from an unknown number only to hear a man threatening her 15-year-old daughter’s life and demanding money, as well as the sound of her daughter crying for help. But while she kept him on the phone, her friends managed to reach her daughter, discovering that she was, in fact, free and well on a skiing trip in Arizona. The voice used on the phone was cloned.
A brief sample (样本) of a voice can be used to train an AI model, which can then speak any given text sounding like that person. Now the dangers are starting to be talked aloud.
ElevenLabs, an AI start-up, offers users the chance to create their own clones in minutes and the results are disturbingly accurate. When generating a playback, the system allows users to choose between variability and stability (稳定性). Select “variability”, and the voice will have a lifelike intonation (语调), including pauses like “er...”. Choose “stability”, and it will come across more like a calm and unemotional newsreader. Taylor Jones, a linguist and consultant, took a careful look at the quality of ElevenLabs’s clone of his voice in a video. A low-tech test, a “conversation” with his own mother, fooled the woman who raised him.
For several years, customers have been able to identify themselves over the phone to their bank and other companies using their voice. This was a security upgrade, not a danger. Not even a gifted voice actor could fool the detection system. But now the banks are forced to change in order to prevent crime.
Creative industries could face trouble. Voice actors’ skills, trained over a lifetime, can be copied in seconds. But some actors may, in fact, find cloning congenial. One actor, who has lost much of his voice to throat cancer, was delighted to have his voice restored for his new movie. Others may be spared the trouble of heading for the studio for retakes. Another industry that will have to deal with the rise of clones is journalism. Secret recordings have long been the contributor to the big news. Now who will trust a story based on an audio clip (音频片段)?
7. How does the author lead in the topic?
A.By telling a story. | B.By explaining a concept. |
C.By making a guess. | D.By making a comparison. |
8. Why is Taylor Jones mentioned in paragraph 3?
A.To analyze the use of voice cloning. | B.To draw readers’ attention to AI. |
C.To prove ElevenLabs’s achievements. | D.To show the danger of voice cloning. |
9. What does the underlined word “congenial” in the last paragraph probably mean?
A.Annoying. | B.Shocking. | C.Suitable. | D.Inventive. |
10. Which can be the best title for the text?
A.AI Technology: Good or Bad? | B.AI-based Voice: A Potential Risk |
C.Cloned Voice: Who to Blame? | D.Voice Cloning: A New Phenomenon |