AI cloning of celebrity voices outpacing the law, experts warn
It’s the new badge of celebrity status that nobody wants.Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey and Kylie Jenner have all had their voices cloned by fraudsters.Online blaggers used artificial intelligence to fake the Tiggerish tones of Martin Lewis, the TV financial adviser.And this weekend David Attenborough described himself as “profoundly disturbed” to have discovered that his cloned voice had been used to deliver partisan US news bulletins.Now experts have warned that voice-cloning is outpacing the law as technologists hone previously clunky voice generators into models capable of emulating the subtlest pauses and breathing of human intonation.
Dr Dominic Lees, an expert in AI in film and television who is advising a UK parliamentary committee, told the Guardian on Monday: “Our privacy and copyright laws aren’t up to date with what this new technology presents, so there’s very little that David Attenborough can do.”Lees is advising the House of Commons culture, media and sport select committee in an inquiry that will look at the ethical use of AI in film-making.He also convenes the Synthetic Media Research Network, whose members include the firm making an AI version of the late chatshow interviewer Michael Parkinson, which will result in an eight-part unscripted series, Virtually Parkinson, with new guests.That voice-cloning project is being done with the consent of Parkinson’s family and estate.“The government definitely needs to look at [voice cloning], because it’s a major issue for fraud,” Lee said.
“It needs the stick of government regulation in order to deter [misuse] … we can’t allow it to be a free-for-all.”AI voice cloning scams were up 30% in the UK in the last year, according to research by NatWest bank this month.Another lender, Starling bank, found 28% of people had been targeted by an AI voice-cloning scam at least once in the past year.Voice cloning is also reportedly being used by fraudsters to perpetrate a version of the “hi mum” text scam, in which fraudsters pose as children needing their parent to send funds urgently.On already fuzzy telephone lines, detecting that a pleading child is a scammer’s clone can be hard.
Consumers are advised to check by hanging up and calling back on a trusted number.People whose voices are cloned without their consent find it more than a nuisance.Attenborough told the BBC on Sunday: “Having spent a lifetime trying to speak what I believe to be the truth, I am profoundly disturbed to find that these days my identity is being stolen by others and greatly object to them using it to say what they wish.”When a new voice option on OpenAI’s latest AI model, ChatGPT-4o, featured tones that were very close to those of the actor Scarlett Johansson, she said she was shocked and angered as the voice “sounded so eerily similar to mine that my closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference”.Sign up to TechScapeA weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our livesafter newsletter promotionThe rise of cloned voices raises the question of what they miss about real human tones.
Lees said: “The big problem is that AI doesn’t understand emotion and how that changes how a word or a phrase might have emotional impact, and how you vary the voice to represent that.”The voiceover industry, which provides voices for adverts, animations and instructional training, is having to respond quickly to technological advances.Joe Lewis, the head of audio at the Voiceover Gallery in London, which has provided real human voices for adverts for Specsavers and National Express, said it had already cloned the voices of some of its artists.He said AI seemed to work best with English male voices, perhaps because that reflected the bias in the type of recordings that had been used to train the algorithm, but he cautioned that in general “there’s something about the way it is generated that makes you less attentive”.“When the AI [voice] breathes, it is a very repetitive breath,” he said.
“The breaths are in the right place, but they don’t feel natural … [But] can it get to the point when it’s really perfect? I don’t see why not, but to get to the full emotional spectrum is a long way off.”
Ford cuts 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 800 in UK, after slowdown in EV sales
Ford has said it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, becoming the latest carmaker to try to reduce costs amid slowing growth in electric car sales and competition from China.The American carmaker said on Wednesday it would axe 800 jobs in the UK and 2,900 in Germany. The company’s UK factories in Dagenham and Halewood will not be affected.The cuts represent about 14% of Ford’s 28,000 workforce in Europe and will be completed by the end of 2027.Ford is the latest in a series of global carmakers to aim for cost savings as the industry struggles with waning demand while also trying to invest in the transition to electric cars
Ford to cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, with Germany and the UK hardest hit – as it happened
Ford has announced it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, mainly in Germany and the UK.This amounts to 14% of the American carmaker’s European workforce. The layoffs will be made by the end of 2027. Globally, they represent around 2.3% of Ford’s workforce of 174,000
Severn Trent’s profits triple as it fails drinking water risk rules
Severn Trent has nearly tripled its profits even as the FTSE 100 water company said it had failed to meet a drinking water risk standard.The company, which serves 4.7 million customers stretching from Bristol and mid-Wales to the Humber, said it would be “in penalty this year” over a measure of water quality known as the compliance risk index (CRI).Water companies have come under close scrutiny over pollution and water quality in recent years, as politicians have accused the sector of not investing enough in vital infrastructure even as shareholders made impressive returns.Several other water companies are under severe financial strain as they struggle under big debt loads
Santander puts aside £295m for car loan mis-selling
Santander UK has put aside £295m to cover potential payouts to car loan customers as the bank issued its first estimate of the financial fallout from the growing car loan mis-selling scandal.The figures were released alongside the bank’s third-quarter results, which were delayed last month after a court of appeal ruling said it was unlawful for two lenders to have paid a “secret” commission to car dealers without borrowers’ knowledge.The provision dented the bank’s pre-tax profits, which fell to £143m in the quarter, down from £413m in the second quarter.Car lenders such as Santander UK had already been facing potential payouts over a Financial Conduct Authority investigation into a specific type of commission payment, discretionary commission arrangements,that was banned in 2021.However, the court judgment went beyond the scope of the FCA investigation and City regulation, extending into common law and opening the door to a much larger compensation bill for motor loan providers
Australia’s Future Fund to invest in housing, infrastructure and energy transition under new mandate
Australia’s $230bn sovereign wealth fund will be retooled to help build houses, improve infrastructure and combat global heating under a new investment mandate.The Albanese government has announced that the independently managed Future Fund will get a new investment mandate and statement of expectations, the latter of which is the first update for the financial asset fund in 15 years.Under the changes, the fund will have to consider national priorities including increasing the domestic supply of residential housing, continuing to support the energy transition as part of the net zero transformation of the Australian economy, and delivering improved local infrastructure including economic resilience and security infrastructure.The government is hoping a greater certainty of investment in assets that have long-term benefits will encourage more supply of housing and clean energy projects.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailGreg Combet, the chair of the Future Fund board of guardians, said it would appoint a new executive director responsible for the energy transition in response to the changes
Rio Tinto review shows rise in rape and bullying reports
Rio Tinto has said the number of its employees who reported they have experienced actual or attempted sexual assault or rape has increased over the last two years, despite efforts to improve its workplace culture in recent years.A report on the Anglo-Australian mining company, authored by the former Australian sex discrimination commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, found “mixed results” in its efforts to implement a programme to change its culture in an effort stamp out sexual assault, bullying and racism.Broderick’s 76-page report on the company, which employs 57,000 globally, noted that a rise in bullying against women was in part “retaliation” to Rio Tinto’s efforts to “promote gender diversity and inclusion”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe report revealed that eight allegations of rape or attempted rape in the past 12 months, up from five cases in 2021. The report also found 32 employees reported experiencing pressure or requests for sex or sexual acts, down from 37 people in 2021
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