A new application that promises to be the "Photoshop of speech" is raising ethical and security concerns. Adobe unveiled Project Voco last week. The software makes it possible to take an audio recording and rapidly alter it to include words and phrases the original speaker never uttered, in what sounds like their voice.
One expert warned that the tech could further undermine trust in journalism. Another said it could pose a security threat. However, the US software firm says it is taking action to address such risks.
[...] "It seems that Adobe's programmers were swept along with the excitement of creating something as innovative as a voice manipulator, and ignored the ethical dilemmas brought up by its potential misuse," he told the BBC. "Inadvertently, in its quest to create software to manipulate digital media, Adobe has [already] drastically changed the way we engage with evidential material such as photographs.
"This makes it hard for lawyers, journalists, and other professionals who use digital media as evidence.
"In the same way that Adobe's Photoshop has faced legal backlash after the continued misuse of the application by advertisers, Voco, if released commercially, will follow its predecessor with similar consequences."
The risks extend beyond people being fooled into thinking others said something they did not. Banks and other businesses have started using voiceprint checks to verify customers are who they say they are when they phone in. One cybersecurity researcher said the companies involved had long anticipated something like Adobe's invention.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Friday November 25 2016, @04:23PM
And now, a message from the president of the United States, George W. Bush...
I've adopted sophisticated terrorist tactics, and I'm a dangerous, dangerous man, with dangerous, dangerous weapons.
I want to drain the coal resources in America and foreign sources of crude oil.
I'm a weapon of mass destruction, I'm a brutal dictator, and I'm evil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmWzGVmPN5o [youtube.com]
They would've had a field day with that software :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 25 2016, @10:10PM
Dude, this tool is meant for voice edition not mind reading.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 26 2016, @03:42AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n41bRHlr76Y [youtube.com]