Culture | Johnson

AI is making it possible to clone voices 

That could help fraudsters and disrupt creative industries

Illustration: Nick Lowndes

JENNIFER DESTEFANO answered a call from a number she did not recognise. “Mom, I messed up,” her daughter’s voice told her, sobbing. “These bad men have me.” A man proceeded to demand money, or he would drug her daughter and leave her in Mexico. But while she kept him on the phone, friends managed to reach her daughter, only to discover that she was, in fact, free and well on a skiing trip in Arizona. The voice used on the phone was a fake.

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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Speak easy”

From the July 22nd 2023 edition

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