Voice cloning emerged commercially in 2023 (ElevenLabs Instant Voice Clone). Quality is now indistinguishable from the source for short utterances. Legitimate uses: audio book narration in a specific voice, podcast hosts cloning themselves for fixes, accessibility for people losing speech, dubbing in the original actor's voice across languages. Misuse risks: scam calls impersonating family members, deepfake political audio, fraud. Most reputable voice cloning services now require consent verification (e.g., the speaker must record a specific consent phrase) and watermark synthetic audio. Several jurisdictions are passing laws making non-consensual voice cloning illegal.
GLOSSARY
What is Voice Cloning?
AI that copies a specific person's voice from a short sample (30 seconds to a few minutes), then generates new speech in that voice.
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