The ethics of hacking your voice

Recently there has been a rising tide of concerns surrounding voice manipulation software. In sum, this technology allows a person to take someone’s speech recordings and create new utterances that the individual may or may not have said. This type of synthetic speech technology has been around for decades, but the entry of a new player in this space, or the publication of a research paper on this topic, tends to create a frenzy of excitement — and anxiety — about the implications of such capabilities on our society.

So what is all of the fuss about? Just like there is photo and video editing software that enables people to create images and videos that blend reality with fiction, voice manipulation software can be used for the same purpose. Have you ever been fooled by a manipulated photograph? I personally like this edited picture of a killer whale attacking a bear. Does it look real? Absolutely. Did it even happen? Clearly not. Most of us have been fooled a few times by fake pictures and videos, and have learned that any picture or video can be easily manipulated in today’s modern age. I would argue, in fact, that this happens every day in most lifestyle magazines, as photo retouching has ensured that most of the photographs we see in print are altered versions of the true image. Seeing is not always believing. Manipulating videos has become just as easy; just have a look at this video of a hawk supposedly dropping a snake on a family BBQ. To the 20th century human, this video could have fooled millions. In the 21st century, most of us know better.