AI Startup Bans Account Blamed for Biden Audio Deepfake (bloomberg.com) 39
An anonymous reader shares a report: The creator of an audio deepfake of US President Joe Biden urging people not to vote in this week's New Hampshire primary has been suspended by ElevenLabs, according to a person familiar with the matter. ElevenLabs' technology was used to make the deepfake audio, according to Pindrop Security, a voice-fraud detection company that analyzed it.
ElevenLabs was made aware this week of Pindrop's findings and is investigating, the person said. Once the deepfake was traced to its creator, that user's account was suspended, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information isn't public. ElevenLabs, a startup that uses artificial intelligence software to replicate voices in more than two dozen languages, said in a statement that it couldn't comment on specific incidents. But added, "We are dedicated to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools and take any incidents of misuse extremely seriously."
ElevenLabs was made aware this week of Pindrop's findings and is investigating, the person said. Once the deepfake was traced to its creator, that user's account was suspended, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information isn't public. ElevenLabs, a startup that uses artificial intelligence software to replicate voices in more than two dozen languages, said in a statement that it couldn't comment on specific incidents. But added, "We are dedicated to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools and take any incidents of misuse extremely seriously."
Yeah, sure (Score:5, Insightful)
ElevenLabs, a startup that uses artificial intelligence software to replicate voices in more than two dozen languages
What were they expecting people to do with it?
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ElevenLabs, a startup that uses artificial intelligence software to replicate voices in more than two dozen languages
What were they expecting people to do with it?
Subvert the U.S. electoral process and/or otherwise con people -- duh.
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It's hard to cite projection.
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to make porn with it, of course.
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When was the last time you jerked off to voice porn?
Re:Yeah, sure (Score:5, Informative)
There have already been many reports of "deepfake audio" trained on social media posts used for fraud: Impersonating a relative or superior over the phone to make people send money.
People have learned to not trust text messages but they will trust a voice over the phone.
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Correction:
*SOME* people have learned...
Most people haven't.
I keep getting ads on YouTube (Score:2)
I'm actually a little surprised I haven't seen some celebrity views AI to sell their likeness basically everywhere. There's only so many hours in the day of celebrity can hawk merchandise but with AI you could plaster that celebrity basically everywhere
Re: I keep getting ads on YouTube (Score:1)
In your case, they simply failed to read their target audience. All they had to do was deep fake Bernie Sanders and you'd have bought it if you had money to spend. Unfortunately for them, installing an ad blocker is beyond your mental capacity, so either way their money was wasted.
Makes no difference (Score:1, Troll)
The upcoming primary is “detrimental” and “meaningless,” they wrote, and “the NHDP and presidential candidates should take all steps possible not to participate.”
https://www.politico.com/news/... [politico.com]
Re:Makes no difference (Score:4, Insightful)
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The purpose of a primary is to select a candidate by assigning delegates.
NH got zero (0) delegates from the DNC this year because NH state law requires the first primary and DNC doesn't like that law. DNC instructed NHDC to tell voters to stay home. NH SoS sent DNC a C&D, warning that DNC would be prosecuted for election interference if they did so. I don't agree with his legal theory but whatevs.
NH D party voters are completely disenfranchised in the candidate process this year.
DNC made this decision
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Private groups can select their candidates for office via whichever mechanism they want. The States, whether New Hampshire or otherwise, have no say in the matter beyond setting qualifications to appear on a general election ballot.
I don't recall democracy requiring that the general public be enabled to vote upon every step of the electoral process. Did "democracy" not [neu.edu]
Blame the tools? (Score:3)
Re:Blame the tools? (Score:4, Insightful)
We don't teach people how to fact check (Score:5, Insightful)
Aside from politicians not wanting critical thinking skills and fact checking taught because they want an easily controlled population you have parents that don't like it when little Jimmy comes home full of all these new skills and ideas and uses them to question the parents' beliefs.
That's the problem with teaching kids how to think critically they're going to do it everywhere because kids don't know what tact is. That means the problem really is their parents going out of their way to stop those kids from getting those skills so you can hardly blame the kid when they grow up to be somebody who can't tell fact from fiction.
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It absolutely is (Score:3)
What it is *not* is a skill you can teach by route memorization of facts. And that means it typically has to be taught with that most hated of all evils: The Humanities.
e.g. you can't teach it like math, where you're either right or wrong, you have to teach it with subjects that have room for error, and that basically means teaching it with things like literature and media literacy courses.
But do a google searc
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BTW, "memorisation of facts" is the first & necessary step towards developing critical thinking skills. How can you think critically if you haven't got anything to think with? There's a lot more to do along with that but you can't get anywhere without memorising facts.
Everyone thin
I mean, you can say that (Score:2)
And I'm not disagreeing with experts, I'm saying the ones you're listening to are wrong, and that your wrong that the majority of cognitive and educational experts think route memorization is how you teach critical thinking. I'm saying your sources are wrong, or that your wild
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I can confidently say that there isn't a single successful model of learning that doesn't have memorisation at its core. One of the more popular definitions of learning is "durable change in long term memory," i.e. memorising stuff. Again, I'm not saying it's the only aspect but it is pre-requisit
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So in this case, people who thought they heard Biden state some position, should verify with
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This is what happens when we allow unlimited money into politics; erosion of trust &, like I said, democracies depend on trust to function properly.
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Ah, you mean like people should fact check whatever falls out of people like Donald Trump's mouths? If we don't hold people to account for their misdeeds, they keep doing them & others follow until you've lost trust. Democracy depends on trust in order to work. Not going after the liars & holding them accountable is literally allowing the fascists into government.
The problem is, that whenever something comes out of Trumps mouth we expect it to be a lie, he's a morally destitute, now financially destitute conman, rapist and insurrectionist... Fact checking him is pointless, by the time you've finished checking one lie, another 3 have been expunged from his face anus.
The difference is Biden isn't the same. Everyone expects lies and division out of Trump but it's a surprise coming from what looks like Biden, hence Hitler once said "the great masses of the people wil
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Why not blame the maker of the hardware used, the CPUs, the power supplies, the internet equipment? Or is it just software, then perhaps the it's the operating system's fault, or the compiler, or the shell used? Come on people, wake up and smell the coffee! The cat is out of the bag. Tools exist and will be used, whether we try to block it or not. Want to know what Biden said? Go direct to the source - he has a website, so does the white house. Can those be hacked, sure, but the likelihood of you finding a deepfake of Biden's voice on whitehouse.gov is significantly lower than on the open internet. Once people learn to check their sources, maybe news media will start linking actual sources too.
I'm confused.
The account that abused the tools was banned. The maker of the tools wasn't blamed. The user was.
Maybe it's you that's confused? Or do you seriously believe that - for instance - anti-spam and anti-malware software shouldn't exist because it's on the recipient to vet every message that comes in? That we shouldn't be blocking or stopping material at the source? That it's on a murder victim to ensure they're not murdered, because we shouldn't prosecute and punish a murderer the first tim
Guns are tools, so are bombs (Score:2)
Why not blame the maker of the hardware used, the CPUs, the power supplies, the internet equipment? Or is it just software, then perhaps the it's the operating system's fault, or the compiler, or the shell used? Come on people, wake up and smell the coffee! The cat is out of the bag. Tools exist and will be used, whether we try to block it or not.
A gun is a tool. Do you want every former felon in your state walking around with an AR-15 in their hands?...what about an M60 machine gun? How about all your neighbors...even if they're not criminals, are you confident they're locking up their weapons securely?...the mom of that Sandy Hook shooter was a model citizen, just terrible at locking her rifle collection. Bombs are tools of warfare. Do you want the Proud Boys having missile launchers?
I am quite comfortable at limiting access to tools...eve
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Some things are worth banning, such as building and/or owning atomic weapons, or massive explosives, etc. Other things are just uncontainable, just rocks. AI is not containable, just like encryption which some governments have in fact tried to bad and or limit (lookup France for example at the beginning of the internet boom - mandatory weak encryption, even web browsers had to have an easy-to-break-encrypti
Deepfake AI (Score:5, Interesting)
It is inevitable that tools of this nature will be used and abused. For instance Scared Ketchup on YouTube makes parodies of a former president, which many find to be hilarious, and outrage others, but in no case is trying to pass it off as true. Here, someone did try.
Slashdot has gone the full nine yards time and again on how to find, prevent, detect, punish, bend fold staple and mutilate technology abuse and has, to my knowledge, never produced a working and lasting "final ultimate solution" or even a framework for such. Even the most horrific punishments do not deter it all.
Absent going back to whale oil lamps and buckboards for transportation, I don't see that we have any choice but to do what we have been with tech - defense in depth, awareness, preparedness, vigilance, caution, and a plan for when we fail.
For my family, for many years we have a code word or phrase to use for when we want to make sure, no foolin', it is a family member, and it is serious. Something simple, that no one outside the circle knows, and those inside won't forget. For instance "The flowers are tasty!" or the answer to "Where is Home" would be "Where the biscuits fall". Much more than that delves into "The Two Generals Problem".
There are a lot of technical dodges for just about any technical abuse, however, there are always ways to defeat/avoid/fake them. In this case "Perfect is the enemy of good enough" is true. With most security, it seems the answer is never one true way, but a fluidity of solutions that evolve.
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For that to work people have to use reasoning skills, critical thinking, or even common sense.
"Never bet against human stupidity, gravity, or rust." - Practical Cats pocket handbook of engineering, rule 434.
Whack-a-mole (Score:2)
Primary use case of AI is fraud (Score:3)
So that will (Score:3)
So that punishment will really stop these fakes /s
So and account was suspended, the perp waits a week or two and gets a new account, maybe using a brand new credit card if you need to pay.
When things like this happens, instantly, 50% of the parent company's total revenue (before deductions) for 5 years should be taken as a fine. Then the $ are held in escrow while the company appeals through the glacially slow court system.
You can bet these companies will stop these fakes over night. Right now, just a hand-tap and a smile was given to the company.
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This thinking is why Remington moved out of New York (leaving a manufacturing town devastated) and all your hammers are made in China now.
It won't be long before Chevy gets sued for the Christmas Massacre in Wisconsin.
China is waiting to take over car manufacturing too. Keep pushing these libility theories to ensure American Courts are unsuitable for any business.
All the drug stores and grocery stores are already closing in non-prosecution areas, leaving food and medicine deserts for the population because
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If it was Trump... (Score:2)
They NEVER would have punished them or removed the account. They'd be all "well, we can't really do anything about it, free speech, yadda yadda yadda." It's (D)ifferent because it was Biden.