The revelation that a documentary filmmaker used voice-cloning software to make the late chef Anthony Bourdain say words he never spoke has drawn criticism amid ethical concerns about use of the powerful technology.

The movie B次元官网网址淩oadrunner: A Film About Anthony BourdainB次元官网网址� appeared in cinemas Friday and mostly features real footage of the beloved celebrity chef and globe-trotting television host before he died in 2018. But its director, Morgan Neville, told The New Yorker that a snippet of dialogue was created using artificial intelligence technology.

ThatB次元官网网址檚 renewed a debate about the future of voice-cloning technology, not just in the entertainment world but in politics and a fast-growing commercial sector dedicated to transforming text into realistic-sounding human speech.

B次元官网网址淯napproved voice cloning is a slippery slope,B次元官网网址� said Andrew Mason, the founder and CEO of voice generator Descript, in a blog post Friday. B次元官网网址淎s soon as you get into a world where youB次元官网网址檙e making subjective judgment calls about whether specific cases can be ethical, it wonB次元官网网址檛 be long before anything goes.B次元官网网址�

Before this week, most of the public controversy around such technologies focused on the creation of hard-to-detect deepfakes using simulated audio and/or video and their potential to fuel misinformation and political conflict.

But Mason, who previously founded and led Groupon, said in an interview that Descript has repeatedly rejected requests to bring back a voice, including from B次元官网网址減eople who have lost someone and are grieving.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not even so much that we want to pass judgment,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e just saying you have to have some bright lines in whatB次元官网网址檚 OK and whatB次元官网网址檚 not.B次元官网网址�

Angry and uncomfortable reactions to the voice cloning in the Bourdain case reflect expectations and issues of disclosure and consent, said Sam Gregory, program director at Witness, a nonprofit working on using video technology for human rights. Obtaining consent and disclosing the technowizardry at work would have been appropriate, he said. Instead, viewers were stunned B次元官网网址� first by the fact of the audio fakery, then by the directorB次元官网网址檚 seeming dismissal of any ethical questions B次元官网网址� and expressed their displeasure online.

B次元官网网址淚t touches also on our fears of death and ideas about the way people could take control of our digital likeness and make us say or do things without any way to stop it,B次元官网网址� Gregory said.

Neville hasnB次元官网网址檛 identified what tool he used to recreate BourdainB次元官网网址檚 voice but said he used it for a few sentences that Bourdain wrote but never said aloud.

B次元官网网址淲ith the blessing of his estate and literary agent we used AI technology,B次元官网网址� Neville said in a written statement. B次元官网网址淚t was a modern storytelling technique that I used in a few places where I thought it was important to make TonyB次元官网网址檚 words come alive.B次元官网网址�

Neville also told GQ magazine that he got the approval of BourdainB次元官网网址檚 widow and literary executor. The chefB次元官网网址檚 wife, Ottavia Busia, responded by tweet: B次元官网网址淚 certainly was NOT the one who said Tony would have been cool with that.B次元官网网址�

Although tech giants like Microsoft, Google and Amazon have dominated text-to-speech research, there are now also a number of startups like Descript that offer voice-cloning software. The uses range from talking customer service chatbots to video games and podcasting.

Many of these voice cloning companies prominently feature an ethics policy on their website that explains the terms of use. Of nearly a dozen firms contacted by The Associated Press, many said they didnB次元官网网址檛 recreate BourdainB次元官网网址檚 voice and wouldnB次元官网网址檛 have if asked. Others didnB次元官网网址檛 respond.

B次元官网网址淲e have pretty strong polices around what can be done on our platform,B次元官网网址� said Zohaib Ahmed, founder and CEO of Resemble AI, a Toronto company that sells a custom AI voice generator service. B次元官网网址淲hen youB次元官网网址檙e creating a voice clone, it requires consent from whoeverB次元官网网址檚 voice it is.B次元官网网址�

Ahmed said the rare occasions where heB次元官网网址檚 allowed some posthumous voice cloning were for academic research, including a project working with the voice of Winston Churchill, who died in 1965.

Ahmed said a more common commercial use is to edit a TV ad recorded by real voice actors and then customize it to a region by adding a local reference. ItB次元官网网址檚 also used to dub anime movies and other videos, by taking a voice in one language and making it speak a different language, he said.

He compared it to past innovations in the entertainment industry, from stunt actors to greenscreen technology.

Just seconds or minutes of recorded human speech can help teach an AI system to generate its own synthetic speech, though getting it to capture the clarity and rhythm of Anthony BourdainB次元官网网址檚 voice probably took a lot more training, said Rupal Patel, a professor at Northeastern University who runs another voice-generating company, VocaliD, that focuses on customer service chatbots.

B次元官网网址淚f you wanted it to speak really like him, youB次元官网网址檇 need a lot, maybe 90 minutes of good, clean data,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e building an algorithm that learns to speak like Bourdain spoke.B次元官网网址�

Neville is an acclaimed documentarian who also directed the Fred Rogers portrait B次元官网网址淲onB次元官网网址檛 You Be My Neighbor?B次元官网网址� and the Oscar-winning B次元官网网址�20 Feet From Stardom.B次元官网网址� He began making his latest movie in 2019, more than a year after BourdainB次元官网网址檚 death by suicide in June 2018.

Matt OB次元官网网址檅rien And Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press

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