Speaker 1: Today I'm gonna show you how to make an AI voice clone of your own voice. Of course, that said, CNET does not condone the use of AI voice cloning to impersonate anyone's voice without their permission. And CNET most certainly does not condone the use of AI voice cloning for spreading misinformation and other nefarious purposes. Now, there are a number of AI voice cloning tools currently on the market, but for this video, I'm going to use 11 labs. I'll walk you through the process and then we can talk about possible use cases. It's always a good idea to look at the terms of service [00:00:30] of voice cloning software. In this case, 11 Labs does not claim any rights to the files you upload. The first thing you need to do is create an account and sign in. 11 Labs offers a limited free account for hobbyists and paid tiers for creators and enterprises, there's a link to 11 labs.
Speaker 1: In the description of this video, I'm using the starter account, which allows me to create up to 10 Custom Voices with 30,000 care characters per month. Once you're signed in, go to the Voice Lab, and from here you can add a generative AI voice or clone of voice. [00:01:00] Click on the plus sign and you now have four choices, one of which is not yet available. Voice design allows you to generate a generic AI voice using a few simple parameters like male or female, young, middle-aged, or old, and you can tweak the accent. Click generate, and you have a voice clone to read scripts or say whatever you want it to say.
Speaker 2: First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters, and we thought it was a typewriter.
Speaker 1: Option two is Instant Voice cloning, which will clone your own voice with some [00:01:30] prompting. First, give your voice a name to easily identify it, and then upload a clean recording of your voice, preferably a little over a minute in length. There can be no background noise, and the audio file needs to be under 10 megabytes. You can upload more than one sample to help the AI analyze and interpret your speaking style. Once uploaded, you can add up to five labels, such as American or your Accent, to help improve the AI's interpretation of your voice. Next, you can write a prompt description of your voice for the ai. [00:02:00] 11 Labs shows an example of a description with an old American male voice with a slight hoarseness in his throat. And finally, you need to confirm that you have all the necessary rights and consent to use the voice you are generating.
Speaker 1: Click add voice and your AI voice will appear next to the other custom voices you have created with the option to use. Edit or remove the saved voice. Click on use and you will now be in the speech synthesis window. Click generate and the AI will read your text back to you in the voice style you prompted. Hello, this is Steven [00:02:30] Beam's, AI voice clone. I may sound like Steven, but I'm definitely not him. I'm something a lot stranger. Pretty crazy, huh? Here you have settings where you can choose an AI voice from the voices you've created or the pre-made voices provided by 11 Labs. Hello,
Speaker 3: This is Steven Beam's, AI voice clone. I may sound like Steven, but I am definitely not him.
Speaker 1: You can tweak the stability and clarity of your voice and choose the AI voice model between 11 monolingual V one and 11 multilingual v1, [00:03:00] which has seven different languages. Once you're happy with the settings, copy and paste your text into the text window. It's important that the grammar is correct, or the AI voice clone might read your copy incorrectly. Today I'm gonna show you how to make an AI voice clone of your own voice. Of course, you can access a history of your AI voice clones and scripts to download or listen back, or you can access the voice library and use a variety of voices created by 11 labs. If you
Speaker 4: Smile when no one else is around, you really mean
Speaker 1: It. Now, you may or may not [00:03:30] have noticed that I actually haven't physically said one word in this video. I've been lip syncing this whole time, like Milli Vanilli. If you feel tricked, whatever you do, don't put the blame on you. Blame it on the rain. Ha ha. Dumb joke. My bad. Ha ha, ha ha, ha, ha, ha ha.
Speaker 5: This is my real voice now, so let's talk about some use cases for this kind of technology. Why would you need an AI voice clone? Good question. While researching this video and looking for AI voice clone examples, there were mostly [00:04:00] robots trying to kill people. Like in Terminator two, for example.
Speaker 6: Hey Janelle, what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking.
Speaker 5: James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of Darth Vader. You
Speaker 7: Underestimate the power of the dark side,
Speaker 5: Retired from voice acting and sold the rights of his AI voice to Disney so they can continue producing movies with Darth Vader's voice forever. For me, recording voiceovers and then editing them down takes a few hours, [00:04:30] so this could be a great tool to help speed up that process. If you do encounter what you think might be an AI voice clone, trying to impersonate someone you know. Here are some tips to identify.
Speaker 5: Listen for unnatural pauses or cadence. Pay attention to the rhythm and flow of the voice. Listen for inconsistent pronunciation and an emphasis on words. There may be a lack of background noise or imperfections, like I'm in a big room right now, so you might be able to hear my voice bouncing off the walls. If you're familiar [00:05:00] with the voice of the person that's being impersonated, pay attention to any deviations from their usual speech patterns, accents, or unique vocal characteristics. Ask it questions Only you and the person being impersonated would know. If it returns incorrect information, then chances are you're talking to an AI voice clone. Hopefully this helps you navigate our rapidly changing world in the age of ai. If you like this video, like and subscribe to CNET for more how-to videos like this one, and thanks for watching.
