The BBC has issued a statement that offers important context to Sara Poyzer’s viral social media posts. The British broadcaster said it is using AI technology in a “highly sensitive documentary” to represent the voice of a person who is nearing the end of their life.
Poyzer was penciled in for the job, but her services are no longer required as the BBC attempts to honor the wishes of the contributor’s family by dedicating a brief — and clearly signposted — section of the documentary to recreating “a voice which can now no longer be heard.”
They could do that anyway, at least to the same extent that they could in any situation. This stuff isn’t new, it’s been possible to recreate someone’s voice for over a decade. Current generations are just getting more natural sounding, and require much, much less training material.