Joe Biden says he wants to ban AI voice impersonations

[midian182]

A hot potato: Joe Biden's State of the Union address last night covered several tech-related subjects, including AI voice cloning. The President called for a "ban on AI voice impersonation," which isn't too surprising given that someone used his voice to try to influence an election earlier this year.

"Here at home, I have signed over 400 bipartisan bills. There's more to pass my unity agenda," President Biden said during the State of the Union. He then named some of the proposals he aims to address should he be voted in for a second term in office: "Strengthen penalties on fentanyl trafficking, pass bipartisan privacy legislation to protect our children online, harness the promise of AI to protect us from peril, ban AI voice impersonation, and more."

Biden has a good reason to call for a ban on AI voice cloning. In January, a 39-second robocall went out to voters in New Hampshire telling them not to vote in the Democratic primary election, but to "save their votes" for the November presidential election. The voice handing out this advice sounded almost exactly like Joe Biden. Voice-fraud detection company Pindrop later analyzed the call, concluding that it was created using a text-to-speech engine made by ElevenLabs, which the company confirmed.

The incident led to the FCC making the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal under the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The agency cited concerns that technology was being used to confuse and deceive consumers by imitating the voices of "celebrities, political candidates, and close family members."

The extent of Biden's proposed ban is unclear. It could be limited to certain areas, such as imitating politicians, but the President does sound like he is talking about a blanket ban on AI voice impersonations, which would have far-reaching effects.

Beyond politics, the use of AI to recreate actors' voices and likenesses was one of the issues behind the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike. It ended after an agreement that ensured actors give consent and are fairly compensated when their AI replications are used, though not everyone was happy with the deal.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102190-joe-biden-wants-ban-ai-voice-impersonations.html

 

[Jim Lahey]

That was an angry, vitriolic speech. Not encouraging in the slightest.

On the subject of AI - I think voice impersonations and regulations are like the genie in the bottle. It's too late.

 

[Puiu]

Kinda late. The AI models are already in the wild.

 

[Uncle Al]

In the wild yes but late? No, you enact laws that make it illegal and punishable by fines and prison, you'll cut down on a lot ..... not all by any means, but a lot. His speech was indeed angry but compared to some of Trumps statements it appears to be right on par .....

 

[rhavenn]

That was an angry, vitriolic speech. Not encouraging in the slightest.

On the subject of AI - I think voice impersonations and regulations are like the genie in the bottle. It's too late.

Compared to what or who? A Trump speech? or a Sunday school teacher?

Trump's speeches are waaaaay worse and full of hate, racist remarks, lies and other bullshit. The 2 don't even compare in their "vitriolicy". That's when he can string a coherent sentence together and that's happening less and less.

Biden's was well spoken and actually attacked a little. Good for him and I'm glad he showed a spine.

 

[Nobina]

It is impossible to control it.

 

[Che Cazzo]

"..his speech was angry".

I'd take "angry" any day over: Racism, misogyny, xenophobia, fear-mongering, conspiracy theory and blaming their criminal behavior on "witch hunts'!
Grab any of Agent Orange's "speeches" and they're loaded with nothing else but the above!

Biden spoke a language Trump's sycophants understand very well.

 

[opckieran]

Sigh… well it was fun while it lasted.

 

[dirtyferret]

That was an angry, vitriolic speech. Not encouraging in the slightest.

wait until you see a speech from the opposing candidate, it will make Biden's speech look as if he was swapping cookie recipes in a library.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Biden wouldnt have to lash out at AI if he could put a coherent sentence in without being puppeted around. It's not the AI's fault a gaffe falls out of his mouth every time he talks.

But then again, wannabe tyrants (anyone who wants to take away your right to defend yourself is a tyrant, full stop) always get mad when someone makes fun of them. Hitler, mussolini, stalin, mao, ece always went after those who made fun of them.

"..his speech was angry".

I'd take "angry" any day over: Racism, misogyny, xenophobia, fear-mongering, conspiracy theory and blaming their criminal behavior on "witch hunts'!
Grab any of Agent Orange's "speeches" and they're loaded with nothing else but the above!

Biden spoke a language Trump's sycophants understand very well.

All things your precious elder care abuse patient is guilty of in his long skeleton riddled career, but hey he had a D at the end so hes good right?

2016 really melted your brain.

 

[USAvenger]

Compared to what or who? A Trump speech? or a Sunday school teacher?

Trump's speeches are waaaaay worse and full of hate, racist remarks, lies and other bullshit. The 2 don't even compare in their "vitriolicy". That's when he can string a coherent sentence together and that's happening less and less.

Biden's was well spoken and actually attacked a little. Good for him and I'm glad he showed a spine.

Please post links to all Trump speeches containing racist remarks.

 

[VitalyT]

Why stop banning artificial intelligence, and ban all forms of intelligence? That will give Biden some level of protection he evidently needs and badly.

 

[Ohnooze]

Please post links to all Trump speeches containing racist remarks.

You have to consider the source. I mean not using preferred pronouns is considered violence these days. I think Trump is a dbag but what isn't considered racist now?

 

[axiomatic13]

Please post links to all Trump speeches containing racist remarks.

Remember, you asked for this.

 

[fiveminute]

TechSpot, no matter what the “incentives” are, please don’t devalue yourselves by publishing politics disguised as tech. I come here to relax from partisan bashing and look at the comments above. You have some top notch reviews, you don’t need this. Please don’t become ArsTechnica.

 

[rhavenn]

Biden wouldnt have to lash out at AI if he could put a coherent sentence in without being puppeted around. It's not the AI's fault a gaffe falls out of his mouth every time he talks.

But then again, wannabe tyrants (anyone who wants to take away your right to defend yourself is a tyrant, full stop) always get mad when someone makes fun of them. Hitler, mussolini, stalin, mao, ece always went after those who made fun of them.

All things your precious elder care abuse patient is guilty of in his long skeleton riddled career, but hey he had a D at the end so hes good right?

2016 really melted your brain.

Have you actually listened to a speech from Trump? Like actually listened to it. Not just what Fox News sound bites and tells you to be angry about? The fact you think Biden is "old" and has speech issues and Trump doesn't is just insane.

Trump clearly has some sort of cognitive decline and/or oncoming dementia. He can't even string a complete sentence together without jumping from 3 or 4 different topics that would sound like babbling nonsense coming from a toddler. Biden sounds like any other older person. Yeap, sometimes it takes him a second to put his thoughts together, but he can still string together an argument and a thought at a very deep level on many topics related to adult conversations. Trump just babbles on about immigrants, who he's had sex with, the deep state, his "persecution" for crimes he's commited, and MAGA, etc...but couldn't tell you anything at all about anything in any great detail. He even gets confused about who he's been married to or is currently married to.

Trump and Biden are 3 years apart in age and both were the oldest ever to run for president in 2020..now they're both 4 years older. Biden is 80. Trump is 77. McConnell is 81 and the GOP seems to have no problem with him even though he's had multiple cases of complete brain lock while talking.

 

[godrilla]

Remember, you asked for this.

That's less racist then some of the things Biden said. Like if you ain't Black if you don't vote for me. Or that They are not bright enough to get an ID to vote. So there is that. Or They are are smart as the white kids.

 

[rhavenn]

Please post links to all Trump speeches containing racist remarks.

Here. This should get you started:

Opinion | Donald Trump’s Racism: The Definitive List, Updated (Published 2018)

The media uses euphemisms. Here’s the truth: President Trump is a racist.

www.nytimes.com

Yeap, it's from 2018, but still valid.

 

[CBTex]

Joe Biden doesn't know what AI is. He just reads the letters off the teleprompter. But hey, "ORANGE MAN BAD," so we'll get another 4 years of this invalid spending money we don't have to make Ukrainian elites rich and allow our southern border to be invaded.

 

[Ohnooze]

That's less racist then some of the things Biden said. Like if you ain't Black if you don't vote for me. Or that They are not bright enough to get an ID to vote. So there is that. Or They are are smart as the white kids.

That wasn't even racist, just stupid.
But did he call black people "super predators"? Or did he refer to them as tacos?
Yeah it's interesting how people pick a side and ignore the obvious.

 

[rhavenn]

That's less racist then some of the things Biden said. Like if you ain't Black if you don't vote for me. Or that They are not bright enough to get an ID to vote. So there is that. Or They are are smart as the white kids.

The "aint' black..." comment came from this:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/22/politics/biden-charlamagne-tha-god-you-aint-black/index.html

Full comment quote:
“You’ve got more questions?” Biden replied. “Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

Which is more a comment disparaging Trump or that you're clearly not paying attention to Trump's rhetoric if you're a black voter and vote Trump and/or is taking the black vote for granted. However, as Biden explains, look at his record and what's done for lower income / black communities.

If you can cherry pick that one comment out of a 40 year career in politics and point to Biden being a racist SOB..then wow. You can pick out one comment a week from Trump that is like that or worse from any of his campaign events.

 

[VitalyT]

Remember, you asked for this.

Basically, this:

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

 

[opckieran]

That's less racist then some of the things Biden said. Like if you ain't Black if you don't vote for me. Or that They are not bright enough to get an ID to vote. So there is that. Or They are are smart as the white kids.

Rules for thee but not for me. The more they cry wolf the less it matters.

 

[umeng2002]

Lying is protected speech in America... unless it's to defraud someone or under oath. US Supreme Court case law is fairly clear on this. Even winning a defamation civil case requires actual damages.

 

[rhavenn]

Joe Biden doesn't know what AI is. He just reads the letters off the teleprompter. But hey, "ORANGE MAN BAD," so we'll get another 4 years of this invalid spending money we don't have to make Ukrainian elites rich and allow our southern border to be invaded.

You do understand that we don't just give Ukraine piles of money right? Please tell me that when we're discussing giving Ukraine X billion of dollars in aid you don't think we just fly over a C130 and dump a pile of cash?

Much of that aid is in weapons and ammo or military gear built by US companies. If that aid is making anyone rich it is US miltary contractor CEOs. He's literally giving American workers free money. Many of which are in red states.

As for the border. Dems and R's came up with a deal that was heavily in favor of policies the Rs wanted, but it was shot down because Trump wanted to score political points and be able to bash Biden for the next 6 months on "not doing anything about the border".