Samsung’s galaxy s23 and Ultra models cell phones are equipped with yet another advance in artificial intelligence (AI). The feature called Bixby Custom Voice Creator enables the cloning of the voice of the cell phone owners to answer their phone calls. The novelty has been available since February 22nd for devices in South Korea.

This is how it works: first, you talk to your cell phone to feed voice samples to the software. It learns to imitate the way you speak and the timbre of your voice until it is practically the same as yours. Then, when you cannot or do not want to answer a phone call, just type the message the AI should say. The cell phone answers the call by itself and says exactly what you typed, using the voice that it learned. The caller’s response is automatically converted to text and can be read as a message.

The feature is also useful when you receive a call in a noisy environment. Instead of having to shout and risk not being understood, just type what you want to say, so that “your voice” speaks clearly.

Digital Voice Cloning

Even though this is the first time that this technology has been available on a large scale to the general public, digital voice cloning is not new. In January, Microsoft introduced VALL-E, a system that mimics anyone’s voice using just a three-second sample.

In January, the company ElevenLabs also released a similar algorithm. A few days later, however, it had to issue an official statement denouncing what they called the “increasing number of cases of misuse of voice cloning”. It turns out that people had used the system to release fake recordings of celebrities speaking things they never said – including crimes. ElevenLabs has committed to creating security mechanisms, but has yet to implement them.

Bixby Custom Voice Creator is expected to become available to mobile phones outside of South Korea soon. In English, there is already Bixby Text Call, which also answers calls, but using a generic voice.

Sources: CanalTech, ElevanLabs, Gizmodo, Samsung, Spotify, Superinteressante, Tecnoblog and Venturebeat

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