GS Paper 4
Syllabus: Ethics/ Science and Technology
Source: TH
Context: Recently several users of ElevenLabs (“speech synthesis” and “voice cloning” service provider) made voice deepfakes of celebrities like Emma Watson, Joe Rogan, and Ben Shapiro.
- Those deepfake audios made racist, abusive, and violent comments without consent.
Ethical concerns related to the use of voice deepfakes:
- Deception: Using false or misleading audio recordings
- Privacy invasion: Making deepfake voices to impersonate others without their consent
- Damage to reputation and credibility
- Lack of regulation: Currently no law regulates it
- Impact on public trust: It may lead to misinformation.
- Discriminatory uses: It can be used to create fake recordings of marginalized communities, amplifying harmful stereotypes and perpetuating discrimination.
Other Concerns:
- Cases of defrauding users:g. In 2020, a manager from a bank in the U.A.E., received a phone call from someone he believed was a company director to transfer $35 million.
- Identity Theft: Morgan Neville’s documentary film on the well-known late chef Anthony Bourdain used voice-cloning software to make Bourdain say words he never spoke. This sparked criticism.
- Phone scams
- Posting fake videos on social media platforms: To blackmail the target
To know about what countries are doing and what should be the solution for deepfakes: Refer to our last month’s article on deepfakes
Insta Links:
Mains Links:
Q. Use of the internet and social media by non-state actors for subversive activities is a major security concern. How have these been misused in the recent past? Suggest effective guidelines to curb the above threat. (UPSC 2016)
