By tapping AI algorithms, a Colorado company is offering celebrities and public figures the chance to digitally clone their voice, which can then be used to make ads and other content.
The company Veritone is marketing the voice-cloning tech as a way for celebrities to monetize their voices with no need to go into a recording studio.
According to Veritone, too many brands and media companies are struggling to produce content at a rapid rate. In response, the company developed “Marvel.ai,” which promises to streamline and expand the content creation via “hyper-realistic” voice generation.
Veritone isn’t alone in offering synthetic voice technology. But the company says Marvel.ai is the first to offer an “end-to-end” voice-cloning system that handles the content generation, licensing and monetization.
Veritone demonstrated the technology through a video that shows Marvel.ai using company president Ryan Steelberg’s voice to read out a prepared script. The synthetic voice isn’t flawless, but it does sound natural enough for a no-frills radio ad.
The company is also demoing Marvel.ai via a website. Simply type in some dialogue and the site will read out the text using a variety of synthetic voices you can choose from.
The technology opens the door for celebrities to digitally lend their voices not just for ads, but also for podcasts, audiobooks, video games and voice-over narration. “With complete control over their voice and its usage, any influencer, personality, or celebrity can quite literally be in multiple places at once,” the company wrote in a blog post. The generated synthetic voice can also change its tone, speed, accent, pitch and be made to speak a different language.
That said, voice cloning is also creepy, and ripe for misuse. Security experts fear the same technology will be exploited to perpetuate scams, including fraud and identity theft. Other critics point to the rise of deep fakes, and their potential to spread disinformation.
However, Veritone says Marvel.ai has been built with security in mind. This includes using access controls and inaudible watermarks to protect a celebrity's synthetic voice.
“We uphold the highest standards of security and believe that transparency is critical to maintaining that trust,” Steelberg added in a statement. “We will always protect our users, their voice identities and any content our users create.”
The company plans on selling the technology to interested companies and brands through a subscription-based pricing. According to The Verge, Marvel.ai will essentially function as a marketplace for celebrities and influencers to digitally loan out their voices to clients.