AI voice tool ‘misused’ as deepfakes flood web forum
A British AI firm said it was rethinking its “safeguards” after its audio tool was used to clone celebrity voices and have them say racist and homophobic slurs.
Eleven Labs tweeted on Monday that it had been a “crazy weekend” and admitted to finding “an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases” just days after it released a demo version of the tool.
The firm did not give details of the cases but the internet forum 4chan was flooded with deepfakes of celebrity voices using racist, sexist and homophobic slurs.
Many of the posts mentioned Eleven Labs, with some users claiming to have been banned by the firm and others providing links to the demo version of the tool.
Celebrities who came in for treatment on the forum, which is notorious for its offensive humour, included the stars of the Harry Potter films, and film directors Quentin Tarantino and George Lucas.
Eleven labs has touted its voice cloning technology as having “the potential to revolutionise the way content is produced, delivered and interacted with across a range of industries”.
In its publicity material, the firm produced a video of actor Leonardo DiCaprio being voiced by several other celebrities.
The firm...