AI Voice Cloning: Opportunities and Dangers Explored

In this engaging episode of the Move 37 Podcast Podcast, host Stephen Walther sits down with Charles Elwood, a Microsoft AI MVP and innovator known for leveraging cutting-edge AI to help people who have lost their voices due to illnesses like throat cancer or ALS.

Giving Voices Back with AI

Charles shares inspiring stories of individuals whose voices he helped preserve and restore using Microsoft’s neural voice technology. One remarkable case involved preserving the voice of a bilingual patient in both English and Canadian French, providing him immense peace of mind before surgery.

However, practical challenges still exist:

Real-time interaction remains difficult, with typing causing conversation delays.
Some users prefer the AI voices primarily for deep, meaningful home conversations rather than public settings.
New gesture-based inputs and emotional cues from facial expressions could soon make AI-assisted communication more seamless.

Identity, Language, and Culture

Charles’s unique background of living across different cultures, including in Indonesia and the Netherlands, has sparked his deep interest in identity and language. He emphasizes:

The role of language and voice as core components of personal identity.
Concerns around AI potentially homogenizing cultures, especially through automatic translations.
The need for culturally sensitive approaches to preserving endangered languages, such as Lakota and languages in Sierra Leone, through AI fine-tuning.

Ethical Considerations and Ownership

The conversation delves into ethical questions:

Who owns your voice? The podcast discusses the controversy around OpenAI’s “Sky” voice and Scarlett Johansson, highlighting issues around voice ownership, rights, and deepfake risks.
Charles suggests the importance of proactively banking your voice and clearly outlining voice ownership in legal documents.

Human vs. AI: Defining the Boundaries

Addressing fears about AI replacing humans:

Charles argues that despite AI’s linguistic strengths, aspects like human creativity, social cooperation, and emotional connection remain distinctly human.
He underscores that AI should enhance rather than replace human experiences.

Learning More and Staying Connected

Charles invites listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn, where he actively shares weekly insights and advancements in AI technologies.