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Voices, Lords, and Passkeys By SecureMac.com Voice Cloning Startup Faces Backlash Amid Election Manipulation Concerns In a recent podcast episode, Checklist No. 361 – OS Updates and A.I. Presidents, concerns were raised about the potential societal impact of advanced audio deepfake technology, specifically highlighting synthesized clips imitating former U.S. President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden. The faux-Trump clip aimed to sell survivalist rations, while the Biden fake allegedly attempted to discourage participation in the New Hampshire Presidential primary. Notably, the deepfake issue raised alarms among experts, such as Carnegie Mellon University professor Kathleen Carley, who expressed worries about the technology’s potential for voter suppression and attacks on election workers. The company behind the controversial technology, ElevenLabs, is identified as an AI startup offering voice cloning services. The deepfake incident involving President Biden led to the banning of the user responsible by ElevenLabs. Despite this, the company recently secured $80 million in funding, raising questions about the ethical use of its technology. ElevenLabs, founded by individuals inspired by poorly dubbed American films, is investing in various applications of its speech-generating technology, including audiobooks, film dubbing, character voices for games, and marketing activations. However, the company’s open-use policy has come under scrutiny, as users can access its browser-based speech generation app for free, and paying customers can upload voice samples to create new styles using ElevenLabs’ voice cloning. The company claims dedication to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools and emphasizes its commitment to addressing incidents of misuse. Despite its efforts to root out violators and implement tools to detect inappropriate speech, critics argue that more safeguards are needed to prevent bad actors from manipulating elections. In response to the situation, the CEO of ElevenLabs stated that the new funding would be allocated toward product development, infrastructure expansion, team growth, AI research, and enhancing safety measures for responsible and ethical AI technology development. The juxtaposition of the funding and the controversy has raised concerns about the industry’s responsibility in developing and deploying potentially influential technologies. As discussions on AI ethics continue, the case of