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A partnership with OpenAI will let podcasters replicate their voices to automatically create foreign-language versions of their shows.

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[-] cooopsspace@infosec.pub 201 points 9 months ago

Honestly, as long as the person whose voice it is gives full permission it's probably one great use for AI.

That being said, you could just hire people who actually know the language to translate.

[-] argo_yamato@lemm.ee 54 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I am for hiring people who know the language and the target audience. Mainly to avoid AI taking away possible jobs and to avoid something literally translated that either doesn't make sense or ends up being offensive by accident.

[-] 0xD@infosec.pub 53 points 9 months ago

You will never ever in any case be able to stop technology from progressing. Instead of fearing the loss of jobs, how about making sure that we can properly handle and integrate AI into our society with everyone benefitting from it?

Stop the defeatist attitude, get politically active and help kick conservatives and fascists into the ditch where they belong.

[-] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 9 months ago

As long as money's involved, there's no way AI tech benefits society.

That kinda shit will only benefit the wealthy and the owning classes.

[-] Grimy@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Might as well go back to the fields the with all the other Luddites then.

We live in a capitalist society, every bit of progress benefits the rich first. It's always been like that, it has nothing to do with the AI part.

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[-] chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

So, like... a claim so broad as "As long as money’s involved, there’s no way AI tech benefits society" is obviously untrue, right? Even if we accept a premise like "On the whole, AI will hurt society more than it helps", it's basically just dogma to blanket deny any practical usefulness. Take firearms, for example: they're often strictly controlled, but rarely if ever completely purged -- almost all societies accept that some situations exist where the utility sufficiently justifies the harm.

To be honest, I feel really weird pushing back against this because we seem rather ideologically aligned. I think we both feel that technologies which promote economic development will -- by default -- disproportionately empower those rich and powerful few. With that being said, from an ideological perspective, technological developments are not in fundamental opposition to Marxist philosophy (yes, even technological developments which render some skilled labor obsolete).

On the contrary; if we are to believe that the next step of economic development lies in casting aside class division, then we must necessarily concede that the only way forward is to recruit novel technological developments toward that purpose. It is self-undermining and shortsighted to argue that simply allowing a development will inherently undermine anti-capital interests, because how then could such a system so apparently incompatible with future technologies also claim to itself be the future?

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[-] Vorticity@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

As the other person said, we're not going to be able to avoid this kind of change and 8 don't think we should want to. There are more podcasts to translate than can possibly be done without AI.

A better use of translators, in my opinion, is as editors. Listen to the AI result while reading the English transcript to fix the types of problems that you mention.

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[-] csolisr@communities.azkware.net 24 points 9 months ago

It can be both at the same time - getting a professional voice actor to translate the script, then apply AI magic to have the voices match the original as exactly as possible.

[-] arefx@lemmy.ml 15 points 9 months ago

Or instead of hiring people you could use AI and then pocket that money because you're a greedy CEO/shareholder and fuck everyone but yourself.

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[-] BarrierWithAshes@kbin.social 10 points 9 months ago

Yeah this must be opt-in only.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 115 points 9 months ago

Ah. So now people can listen to Joe Rogan in the original Russian.

[-] xusontha@ls.buckodr.ink 7 points 9 months ago

as it was meant to be heard

[-] FireWire400@lemmy.world 48 points 9 months ago

That's just weird... Part of the reason I listen to podcasts is that I just enjoy people talking about things and AI voices still have this uncanny quality to me

[-] sudoshakes@reddthat.com 16 points 9 months ago

A large language model took a 3 second snippet of a voice and extrapolated from that the whole spoken English lexicon from that voice in a way that was indistinguishable from the real person to banking voice verification algorithms.

We are so far beyond what you think of when we say the word AI, because we replaced the underlying thing that it is without most people realizing it. The speed of large language models progress at current is mind boggling.

These models when shown FMRI data for a patient, can figure out what image the patient is looking at, and then render it. Patient looks at a picture of a giraffe in a jungle, and the model renders it having never before seen a giraffe… from brain scan data, in real time.

Not good enough? The same FMRI data was examined in real time by a large language model while a patient was watching a short movie and asked to think about what they saw in words. The sentence the person thought, was rendered as English sentences by the model, in real time, looking at fMRI data.

That’s a step from reading dreams and that too will happen inside 20 months.

We, are very much there.

[-] Pete90@feddit.de 9 points 9 months ago

I don't think what you're saying is possible. Voxels used in fMRI measure in millimeters (down to one of I recall) and don't allow for such granular analysis. It is possible to 'see' what a person sees but the image doesn't resemble the original too closely.

At least that's what I have learned a few years ago. I'm happy to look at new sources, if you have some though.

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[-] rigatti@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

It won't take long until that uncanny quality is worked out.

[-] danielbln@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Imho it has already been worked out. There is probably selection bias at play as you don't even recognize the AI voices that are already there.

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[-] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 34 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The problem with this is the same problem news websites has when they started switching out their foreign language writers with AI.

Just because you can translate what is literally being said word by word, doesn't mean you're translating the intent of what was being said.

Idioms, phrases, jokes, pleasantries, etc. won't translate into foreign languages no matter how well you can translate the literal words being said.

If you want good quality translation, you should get someone who knows the language and the culture to do it, as they can translate what's between the lines.

[-] Obi@sopuli.xyz 6 points 9 months ago

Shows with the budget/intent to create good quality translations will have them reviewed/refined by humans before they put it back in the voice of the host, I don't see why they couldn't do that.

Shows without the budget or that just don't care will use full-auto and I'm sure it will indeed suck.

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[-] MaxPow3r11@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

Make it stop.

Fuck this whole shit.

[-] kromem@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

What's your beef with this?

In what world does someone who only speaks Spanish being able to listen to and enjoy a podcast that was recorded in English end up being such a terrible thing?

"Broader accessibility of information? No, please make it stop!!"

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[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 9 points 9 months ago

This is pretty great if the creators get the same cut...

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[-] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 30 points 9 months ago

After discovering my first AI covers (specifically Barbie Girl by Johnny Cash) a couple of weeks ago my first thought was "Yep, this is how Star Trek's universal translator is about to come to pass."

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[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 29 points 9 months ago

This pseudoAI is a new kind of plastic: sometimes useful, misused to infest everything with it. As it rolls, there would be less and less genuine content in a sea of garbage. That few, it'd become a luxury.

Technological advance is in hands of those who own the means of production.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 29 points 9 months ago

That's going to cause so many lawsuits. Also wonder since the WAG strike finally finished and are creating a contract, if this will affect it?

[-] TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works 45 points 9 months ago

Why do you think that? It sounds like it's a feature that a Podcaster can choose to use if they want to. It doesn't sound like they are just going to do it to every podcast without permission.

Honestly, as dumb as the AI hype can be, I see this as an actual good use of the tech, but I could be wrong.

[-] calamitycastle@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

Sure, as long as everyone gets paid!

[-] Covenant@sh.itjust.works 11 points 9 months ago

Well they get more people listen to their podcast, more advertising.

[-] calamitycastle@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Yes exactly, as long as that adds up to the same compensation percentage the original voice actor signed up for then I don't see an issue with this.

I'm almost 100% sure that won't be the case without a fight

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[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

Is this good or bad. I can see this being used to steal your voice and use it without your permission.

[-] kn33@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago

Assuming that nothing nefarious happens, I can still see this being a problem if the translations aren't top quality. Imagine that speakers of another language are offended or you're embarrassed in front of them because something you said was incorrectly translated; then it's rendered in your voice so it seems you said it.

[-] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Handle it just like horror podcasts usually do. Disclaimers before and after the podcast. Disclaimers in the podcast description. Notices in the ToS.

"This podcast has been translated into *your language* with the help of OpenAI. This is an automated service. As such, it may contain transcription and translation errors which may result in dialogue not intended by the original podcaster. Please report errors to *support link here*."

Be more concerned about this being like what Hollywood just pulled, where Spotify includes a usage clause that gives them the rights to the podcaster's voice in perpetuity.

[-] Chariotwheel@kbin.social 7 points 9 months ago

And, it doesn't even need to be wrong. Sometimes very innocent things have a specific meaning or connotation in certain languages. Be it innuendos or euphemisms.

Using 3/5 in connection with Black people would mean basically nothing in Germany, but would perk up ears in the USA. On the other hand 18 and 88 is not that well known in the USA as anything particular, but in Germany you can't have it easily on your car plate, especially if you're from Hamburg (HH).

So you could quite correctly translate things, but they still get a different connotation depending on culture and language.

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[-] Wahots@pawb.social 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I hate how many ads they push for podcasts and singles on the premium tier. Full screen. IDGAF, I just wanna listen to my music. Bracing for a wave of new duo ads, podcasts about a woman who sat on a fork or some BS like that, and artists I dislike. Now with AI translations :|

[-] Rodeo@lemmy.ca 14 points 9 months ago

You pay for premium and they're still serving you ads?

Every day I feel better about never having used Spotify.

[-] krakenx@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

There is a recommended for you section on the main page, but you can ignore it. They aren't inserting ads into the listening part.

[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 20 points 9 months ago

If it does a good job and people get paid fairly then this seems like a great thing to me.

[-] neveraskedforthis@lemmy.world 48 points 9 months ago

Spotify

Pay fairly

Sure buddy

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[-] BubblyMango@lemmy.wtf 17 points 9 months ago

I have a strong feeling the terms of usage for this opt-in will include something along the lines of "we can use your voice for our future projects" and then in a few years they will just create podcasts using podcasters' voices without their true consent and make a ton off their backs while increasing their competition.

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[-] snek@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

"A partnership with OpenAI". I stopped reading. Probably shouldn't but god damn.

[-] xusontha@ls.buckodr.ink 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Does this mean I can listen to my podcasts in Klingon?

Time to get Duolingo out again

[-] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

I saw nothing in the article about if the podcasters will be getting any pay or anything of the sorts for this kind of stuff, but so long as they're getting paid for opting in (assuming it's opt in) when this comes available for everyone I don't mind this as much. This is a use of AI I can get behind, at least if the podcasters get paid while using it.

[-] Scheme@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

Henry Zebrowski in Spanish is going to be something else.

[-] shotgun_crab@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

Sounds like a terrible idea

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[-] TwinTusks@outpost.zeuslink.net 10 points 9 months ago

I have mix feeling about this, I have many English podcasts that I would love to recommend to my non-english speaking friends, so I feel very excited about this idea. But again, I felt the podcasters are being abused in someway with this.

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this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
524 points (96.3% liked)

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