OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has recently ventured into the voice assistant industry by introducing new technology that allows for the cloning of a person’s voice. However, due to safety concerns, the company will not release this new technology publicly at this time. OpenAI claims that it can replicate a person’s voice with just 15 seconds of recording of that person speaking.
The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company plans to showcase its new Voice Engine technology to early testers but will not make it widely available due to potential risks associated with generating speech that resembles individuals’ voices, especially during an election year when misinformation can have serious consequences. Several startup companies currently offer voice-cloning technology, some of which is already accessible to the public or tailored for specific business clients like entertainment studios.
OpenAI’s Voice Engine testers have agreed not to impersonate individuals without their consent and to disclose that the voices being generated are artificial intelligence-created. While OpenAI has not yet released its voice cloning technology to the public, a trademark application filed in March indicates that the company may be exploring the speech recognition and digital voice assistant market. By enhancing this technology, OpenAI could potentially compete with established voice products such as Amazon’s Alexa in the future.
