RHYAN JOHNSON: Hey, Kenny, how's it going? GUO: And then, a couple weeks later, WellSaid jumped on a Zoom with us. MALONE: We sent those recordings over to WellSaid with transcripts of all the words he said, which were more than just his name, to be clear. They asked us for even more recordings of the real Robert Smith. MALONE: Then we found a company called WellSaid Labs, who - full disclosure - agreed to help us for free with this. GUO: That is a real recording of the real Robert Smith, who gave us permission to try and clone his voice. Today on the show, a series of unfortunate events. ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: Hello, and welcome to Planet Money. MALONE: Or more specifically, our colleague. GUO: And so we figured we should run a test to see - can this technology replace us? Like, will we be winners like Grimes, or could this technology just replace Jeff and me altogether? MALONE: And, you know, as people who talk into microphones for a living - like we're doing right now - this automation of the voice is troubling. GUO: Yeah - because, you know, automation has often been a harsh part of history. But as economics reporters, we were a little bit more skeptical here. MALONE: And, you know, clearly, Grimes sees this AI voice technology as an opportunity. GUO: Again, that was an AI Grimes reading words sent to us by the real Grimes. So if there's ways to reduce these algorithmic barriers by letting people inhabit my being, then I think we're moving in a direction I really like. It's hard to build a fan base, and it's hard to get your work in front of the public. And Grimes told us that letting people clone her singing voice has actually felt like a way to let less famous musicians sort of borrow her voice and her fame to help build their budding careers.ĪI-GENERATED VOICE #2: (As Grimes) I run into absurdly creative humans all the time, but not a lot of people get to be artists. And she agreed to have an AI replica of her own speaking voice read her answers out loud - because the future is now, and it is weird. So Grimes couldn't do a sit-down interview with us, but she did answer some of our questions over email. I just tweeted that people could use my voice, and it went viral. And, to be honest, I didn't even think about it or ask my team. GUO: And this is a fascinating new business model for a pop star - using AI to basically multiply yourself.ĪI-GENERATED VOICE #2: (As Grimes) I realized this was pretty accessible technology. MALONE: Which means that Grimes may have been at home, sipping a mojito, while her AI clone voice worked hard to sing this song.ĪI-GENERATED VOICE #1: (As Grimes, singing) Me again, you (ph).ĪI-GENERATED VOICE #1: (As Grimes, singing) We are both (ph).ĪI-GENERATED VOICE #1: (As Grimes, singing) I want to hold you (ph). GUO: And in just a few weeks, more than 300 new songs had been created using Grimes' AI voice. Earlier this year, she announced that she'd let anybody make a song using her AI voice as long as they split the royalty checks with her. That voice was entirely generated by artificial intelligence. JEFF GUO, BYLINE: That is a song made with an AI version of Grimes' singing voice. GRIMESAI)")ĪI-GENERATED VOICE #1: (As Grimes, singing) Fool me like I'm yours forever. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COLD TOUCH (KITO FEAT. KENNY MALONE, BYLINE: The singer Grimes may have turned herself into the most efficient pop star on the planet. Kenny Malone and Jeff Guo from NPR's Planet Money podcast set out to explore this brave new world of artificial intelligence. AI can now be trained to realistically imitate the voices of celebrities, loved ones, even our co-workers. Thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence, computers are starting to sound like real humans.
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