When you think of natural language processing (NLP), chatbots like ChatGPT come to mind. However, another crucial aspect of NLP that goes beyond text is speech synthesis. Voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant as well as public transportation systems are some examples of day-to-day speech synthesis technology.
The first form of speech synthesis software dates back to the late 1960s with John Larry Kelly’s vocoder and the first text-to-speech (TTS) system. Since then, TTS and speech synthesis applications as a whole have improved significantly as a result of developments in techniques and methods. One of the most advanced examples of these developments is VALL-E.
VALL-E, a neural audio codec model developed by Microsoft and trained on 60,000 hours of English speech, can perform high-quality speech synthesis that resembles a specific voice. It uses neural networks to compress and decompress audio data, reducing its size while preserving its quality. With only 3 seconds of audio, it can learn the original speaker’s voice and synthesize speech from it given a text prompt. This enables it to create realistic artificial speech of any person that can even replicate emotion.
VALL-E has many beneficial use cases for various domains. For people who have lost their voice due to injury or otherwise, technology like VALL-E can provide them with a personalized voice that sounds like them. In addition, content creation can be greatly enhanced. It facilitates voiceovers for movies and video games, speeding up production speeds and reducing costs for studios. Podcasts can now seamlessly edit or extend segments of speech to their liking.
However, there are many dangers associated with voice synthesis when it gets as realistic as VALL-E is. As with all generative technology that is designed to replicate a human, the potential for malicious use needs to be recognized. One example is if someone were to create artificial speech of a public figure and pass it off as real in order to manipulate perceptions and opinions or to push their own ideas. Even in the private sector, one could imitate a company executive and call employees to convince them to do actions that could harm the company or individuals.
Speech synthesis technology is rapidly progressing and applications such as VALL-E have the potential to transform many different aspects of life. However, it’s important for developers to recognize and be conscious of the harm that such technology could be responsible for.
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