My clients, mixer, staff, and myself were seated in the studio, all attentively listening to the soft sound of snoring. Our voiceover artist had dozed off in the booth, and the microphone was capturing the soothing cadence of his nap.
While recording numerous scripts, there was still a lot left to do. However, I hesitated to interrupt him. Although it was my responsibility as the director to keep the session on track, the voice that seemed to be falling asleep was no ordinary - it was THE voice of James Earl Jones.
Star Wars, Lion King, Field of Dreams, dozens of roles, movies, television, and theater—all united by the man's fantastic, warm, resonant pipes.
James has this soft smile, which I think goes down into his vocal cords. That is the secret of his honeycomb tone.
With the rise of AI voice cloning, actors are confronted with decisions to make
Recently, he made a deal with Respeecher, a voice clone operation. So, will the next Darth Vader voice you hear be James Earl Jones or James Earl Clone?
In an article on the TechTarget platform, Andy Thurai, an analyst at Constellation Research, says about the AI deal for Jones’ voice, “His graciously donating his voice to create voice cloning for conversational AI would be great. I see this growing in many areas."
I’m not sure ‘donating’ is the accurate term for the Respeecher deal, and I’m not sure what ‘conversational AI’ means, but voice cloning is undoubtedly on a roll.
“Voice cloning comes in various forms, including AI technology that translates text into speech, as well as speech into speech, when AI mimics a person's voice. Speech-to-speech is the type of voice cloning that will clone Jones' voice.” TechTarget
Voice cloning takes different forms, including AI, which converts text to speech, and AI, which replicates a person's voice by transforming speech into speech. The speech-to-speech method will be used to clone Jones' voice.
"Speech-to-speech is more for controllability and fine emotion," said Respeecher's co-founder Dmytro Bielievtsov. “Getting high-quality speech is challenging. Making just the sound quality high enough and not to have too many artifacts is a challenge that took us a lot of time to nail down."
AI voice cloning is a component of our Post-Ethics Culture
The privacy issue is raised due to the potential for malicious individuals to misuse people's voices facilitated by technology. Essentially, we are discussing the digital era beyond ethical considerations, what I call the Post Ethics Culture.
"You are just one hacker away from someone cloning your voice to hack into your voice-activated systems," Thurai said.
Voice cloning technology can potentially revolutionize political campaigns by enabling candidates to reach a wider audience and convey their messages more effectively. In the context of X-Twitter, a platform notorious for spreading misinformation and slanderous content, the impact of voice cloning could be particularly significant. With the ability to replicate a candidate's voice convincingly, malicious actors could create fake audio recordings to spread false information, manipulate public opinion, and undermine the integrity of political discourse.
I’ve spent time with these voices, especially on the platform ElevenLab. It’s always tempting, but in the end, I never use the clones. They don’t move me the way human voices do. I need a fresh actor’s interpretation in my work. I need the inspiration of hearing my scripts through the voices of talented voice artists.
Artificial intelligence faces a significant challenge despite its rapid advancements due to its inherent reactive nature. This limitation stems from AI's reliance on historical data and past actions to make decisions and predictions. While AI systems excel at processing vast amounts of information and identifying patterns based on existing data, they often struggle to innovate beyond these established boundaries.
One primary reason for this constraint is AI's lack of true creativity. Unlike humans, who can think abstractly, connect seemingly unrelated concepts, and imagine entirely new possibilities, artificial intelligence operates within the confines of the data it has been trained on. As a result, AI systems may find it challenging to generate novel solutions or ideas that go beyond what they have already learned.
Moreover, AI's reactive nature can lead to bias and limited adaptability. Since AI algorithms rely on historical data, they may perpetuate existing biases present in the data, leading to unfair or discriminatory outcomes. Additionally, when faced with novel situations or scenarios that differ significantly from the training data, AI systems may struggle to adapt and respond effectively.
Addressing these limitations is a crucial area of research in artificial intelligence. Researchers are exploring ways to enhance AI systems' capacity for creativity, adaptability, and forward-thinking. By developing algorithms that can learn from limited data, think abstractly, and generate innovative solutions, the next generation of AI may overcome its reactive nature and unlock new possibilities across various domains.
James will never be a clone
Eventually, James wakes up, and we resume recording. He has a personal producer in the booth who sometimes reads the copy. James listens and then repeats what he’s heard. He has trouble seeing and is dyslexic. However, when he starts reading, he owns the words in a way no one else can.
Clones don’t need naps, residuals, unions, or session fees. They’re an executive’s dream. I can see a future for clones in automated customer service utilities.
James Earl Clone will have some moments as the technology unfolds. But I’m also sure James Earl Clone will retain none of the actual value of the real James Earl Jones.
Ultimately, James Earl Jones's real gold is in his performances, crafted fresh for each role. The insights and subtleties that build from the heart and connect his characters to us, his audience, cannot be cloned.
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