Meta, the technology company formerly known as Facebook, has announced the release of its first artificial intelligence (AI) offering since the AI generator industry experienced significant growth in late 2022. The new AI generator, called Voicebox, is a text-to-audio generator that is capable of producing conversational-sounding speech in a variety of languages. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the way people interact with each other and access information.
Voicebox has been trained on over 50,000 hours of unfiltered audio, including public domain speech and transcripts in multiple languages. The model was trained by having it predict blocks of speech within a transcript instead of having to develop a body of work from scratch. This approach allows Voicebox to produce high-quality audio clips with a one percent error rate degradation, compared to other models.
One of the notable features of Voicebox is its ability to edit audio clips for unwanted noise or misspoken words, similar to editing software for still images like Adobe Photoshop. This technology has the potential to be used in a variety of applications, such as improving the audio quality of podcasts or videos, or even assisting people with vocal cord damage.
Meta has also stated that it plans to use Voicebox in the future to aid patients with vocal cord damage, in-game NPCs (non-player characters), and digital assistants. The company has released audio samples with its research paper introducing the app, and has showcased its potential for use in various industries.
Meta Reveals Voicebox
Despite the potential benefits of Voicebox, Meta has decided not to release the app or source code to the public at this time, citing the potential risks of misuse. This is understandable, given the recent warnings issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about the increasing use of deep fake content in crimes, including extortion, blackmail, and harassment.
Meta’s decision to prioritize AI innovation over its metaverse concept also raises questions about the company’s future plans and priorities. Meanwhile, Apple has been investing in virtual reality and has announced its first Vision Pro headset, but has not shown any major interest in AI.
Meta’s introduction of Voicebox is a significant development in the field of AI, and has the potential to revolutionize the way people interact with each other and access information. While there are potential risks associated with this technology, Meta’s decision to keep it private at this time is understandable. As the company continues to develop and refine Voicebox, it will be interesting to see how it is used in the future and what impact it has on various industries.
