How does AI create an uncannily accurate voice? In a controversial scene in the new documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” a voice that sounds like Bourdain’s reads an email he had written—but the sound was created posthumously, using “voice cloning” technology.
Synthetic voices aren’t new; they’re already being used in the health care and commercial fields, notes Rupal Patel, a professor in the departments of speech, language pathology, and computer science at Northeastern University and the founder of the voice-generating company VocaliD. Experience spoke to Patel several weeks ago about the mechanics and ethics of synthetic voice technology.
