Apple will let you teach your iPhone to speak in your voice

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

Starting later this year, you’ll be able to type out a friendly greeting or your coffee order on an iPhone and hear your own voice — or something like it — speak it aloud.

It won’t require any additional apps or accounts, either; just a free software update from Apple.

To people who have full use of their voice, this tool — a feature the company calls Personal Voice — may not seem like much more than a clever curiosity. But for those who can no longer speak with the clarity or confidence they once did, tools like this could help them interact with the world, and the people in it, a little more easily.

Personal Voice is one of a handful of new assistive features that will arrive on Apple devices like iPhones, iPads and Mac computers “later this year,” the company said.

[ecstatic]

1. No thanks

I hate my voice.

[hlthe2b]

2. Eww. No thanks. The old answering machines with self-recorded messages were bad enough.

I'll take Siri or some other voice.

[dweller]

3. With a little helium

I’ll sound like a munchkin …


✌🏻

[intrepidity]

4. This might be interesting.

Imagine writing a presentation or something and then using this tool to deliver it -- no hmmms errrs y'knows ummms yeah so etc. I could rec this to certain podcasters with vocal fry and other annoying vocal tics.

[marybourg]

5. Great. Just in time for AI to learn to emulate your

voice from your own Apple device and create plenty of mischief. And larceny.

[FreeState]

7. Not likely

The way the voice works is you have to read pre-written random statements for FIFTEEN minutes. It would be very difficult for most none celebrities to have 15 minutes of them answering specific questions available to hackers.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/05/apple-previews-live-speech-personal-voice-and-more-new-accessibility-features/

Users can create a Personal Voice by reading along with a randomized set of text prompts to record 15 minutes of audio on iPhone or iPad. This speech accessibility feature uses on-device machine learning to keep users’ information private and secure, and integrates seamlessly with Live Speech so users can speak with their Personal Voice when connecting with loved ones.

[marybourg]

8. Ummm.

Microsoft recently unveiled its cutting-edge text-to-speech AI language model VALL-E, which it claims can mimic any voice — including its emotional tone, vocal timbre and even the background noise — after training using just three seconds of audio

https://www.thestar.com/business/technology/2023/01/10/microsofts-new-ai-can-mimic-any-voice-after-just-3-seconds-and-some-experts-are-worried.html#:~:text=Microsoft%20recently%20unveiled%20its%20cutting,just%20three%20seconds%20of%20audio.

[emulatorloo]

9. I just read the full press release. All of those new accessibility features sound great.

[Beastly Boy]

6. Can I teach it to sing expletives in Paul Robeson's voice?

It will certainly help me interact with the world with a lot more confidence!

[DFW]

10. Who wants to hear MY voice?

If I want my phone to talk, and I'm not sure I do, I'd want it to talk with the voice of Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall or Paul McCartney. Or maybe even Everett Dirksen. Yeah, he was a Republican, but they didn't call him "the wizard of ooze" for nothing. I only met him a couple of times as a kid, but I still remember what a hoot he was, and he loved to entertain.

The last time I let my voice out in public this happened:

It took me thirty petitions to get the FAA to let me fly again....................

[CousinIT]

11. For people with ALS or other degenerative diseases where they lose ability to speak.

Similar tech is already being used for scams - I'm sure Personal Voice will be too: https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2023/03/scammers-use-ai-enhance-their-family-emergency-schemes