AI Tools That Modify Speech
Have Downsides
Pamela Meyer
Speech technologies, such as those that soften accents and filter out
emotions, can strip away vital vocal cues and hinder authentic
communication.
At the annual TED Conference earlier this year, the room fell
silent for the demonstration of a potentially groundbreaking
technology: a “cone of silence” tool, currently in
development, designed to block out all surrounding noise
so conversation partners can hear only each other’s voices.
While many of us in attendance were impressed by the
simulated “quiet table” in a busy restaurant, I could only
wonder how much of each speaker’s voice might be lost
along the way.
This isn’t the only technology “cleaning up” sound involving
human speech. Arti<cial inte ...