| The Era of Cloned Humans AI-technologies are evolving at an alarming rate. The ability of LLMs to produce drafts, review work, even write some code continues to improve to the point where junior level workers are in danger of having less opportunity than in the past. Perhaps even more alarming is the ability of AI technologies to mimic what they find in the real world, which can include voices. As with any technology created to make the world better, criminals will find a way to use it for nefarious purposes. This article notes that the FBI has warned families to have a secret word or phrase, as criminals are using AI to clone the voice of a family member asking for financial help. Can you imagine getting a call from your spouse, parents, or children, saying that they're in trouble and need some money right away? With AI tech, the voice could even respond to your questions, mimic anxiety or distress, cry, or who knows what. Last year Microsoft announced a text to speech technology that can closely simulate a person's voice with just 3 seconds of audio. I'm sure that capability has improved in a year and soon we may not be able to trust the voices we hear. We certainly can't trust the photographs we see, something that we enjoy when we see artists photoshop images for fun, but when we look at an image in the news, we want it to be real, but we can't trust that an organization hasn't manipulated a photo. When anyone could simulate another's voice, things can go wrong quickly. I assume the ability to fake video in real time is coming soon. With enough hardware and some imagery, I would guess AI models will be able to hold a Facetime-type call as a human, fooling most people that might not know the person extremely well. At some point, since all our images and video are digital anyway, I assume that without some security measure, the tech could likely fool almost everyone. Even as I write this I doubt how well the quality is, but I'm sure that it will continue to improve to the point where we might be loathe to trust remote interactions. This has the potential to be a security nightmare for some people, and I worry about the scams and losses criminals will inflict upon the unsuspecting. This is one type of technology whose negatives will far outweigh the positives. Steve Jones - SSC Editor Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums | 
