This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss PC woes, voice deepfakes, and mutual aid.
JOSEPH: Today I’m speaking at the Digital Vulnerabilities in the Age of AI Summit (DIVAS) (good name) on a panel about the financial risks of AI. The way I see it, that applies to the scams and are being powered by AI.
As soon as a new technology is launched, I typically think of ways it might be abused. Sometimes I cover this, sometimes not, but the thought always crosses my mind. One example that did lead to coverage was back at Motherboard in 2023 with an article called How I Broke Into a Bank Account With an AI-Generated Voice.
At the time, ElevenLabs had just launched. This company focuses on audio and AI and cloning voices. Basically you upload audio (originally that could be of anyone before ElevenLabs introduced some guardrails) and the company then lets you ‘say’ anything as that voice. I spoke to voice actors at the time who were obviously very concerned.