[HN Gopher] RIAA Reports AI Vocal Cloning Site 'Voicify' to the ...
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       RIAA Reports AI Vocal Cloning Site 'Voicify' to the U.S. Government
        
       Author : gslin
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2023-10-11 14:10 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (torrentfreak.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (torrentfreak.com)
        
       | unstatusthequo wrote:
       | Just wait until their beloved talent's voice is shot from years
       | of singing, drinking, smoking, etc. and they want a new album.
       | Maybe they'll want to revisit their stance on this and use the
       | tech to keep pumping out those hits that they need to survive on
       | as a leech.
        
         | kube-system wrote:
         | Nothing in their complaint would preclude the artist from using
         | the technology.
        
       | mikece wrote:
       | If a random singer can duplicate the sound of a popular singer
       | it's one thing; to use a process to clone the voice of that
       | singer from the singer's own recordings is a theft of that
       | person's unique talent. Same principle as if I took a paparazzi
       | photo of a celebrity and sold it as portraits due to the fame of
       | that person and for legitimate news purposes.
        
         | angryasian wrote:
         | >If a random singer can duplicate the sound of a popular singer
         | it's one thing; to use a process to clone the voice of that
         | singer from the singer's own recordings is a theft of that
         | person's unique talent.
         | 
         | in the end the outcome is the same and happens all the time in
         | the industry. When a voice actor portraying another character
         | for an animated series, the original actor doesn't get
         | compensated. Cloned or exactly duplicated is indistinguishable
         | to the outcome.
         | 
         | >Same principle as if I took a paparazzi photo of a celebrity
         | and sold it as portraits due to the fame of that person and for
         | legitimate news purposes.
         | 
         | Not sure I understand this. paparazzi takes photo and sells
         | photos ? whats the issue ?
        
           | mikece wrote:
           | I cannot take and sell a photograph of you, capitalizing on
           | your image and likeness, for my own profit without permission
           | (the violation is called "conversion") unless the photos meet
           | exceptions such as being newsworthy or just a general street
           | photography photograph (but the people captured by street
           | photographers aren't captured specifically for who they are
           | but how they look in a scene and could have been anyone
           | without changing the essential nature of the photograph).
        
         | jiminymcmoogley wrote:
         | The trouble with using the word "theft" while making an
         | argument about unauthorized copying is that it never holds
         | water - does the popular singer lose their ability to sing? If
         | not then the closest you can really get and still come across
         | as genuine is to say they "stole" the uniqueness of their
         | talent, rather than their unique talent itself
        
       | hiatus wrote:
       | Framing it as a "right to publicity" argument is interesting,
       | though it invites comparison to celebrity impersonators which
       | exist and don't seem to infringe.
       | 
       | A relevant opinion:
       | 
       | > The purpose of the portrayal in question must be examined to
       | determine if it predominantly serves a social function valued by
       | the protection of free speech. If the portrayal mainly serves the
       | purpose of contributing information, which is not false or
       | defamatory, to the public debate of political or social issues or
       | of providing the free expression of creative talent which
       | contributes to society's cultural enrichment, then the portray
       | generally will be immune from liability. If, however, the
       | portrayal functions primarily as a means of commercial
       | exploitation, then such immunity will not be granted.
       | 
       | from Estate of Presley v. Russen via
       | https://ripl.law.uic.edu/news-stories/celebrity-impersonatio...
        
         | kube-system wrote:
         | I think the biggest difference is that impersonators are using
         | humanly creative acting skills, whereas this tool's model is
         | built mechanically from the original artist's recordings.
        
           | dehrmann wrote:
           | How is what an AI does any different?
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | kube-system wrote:
             | The degree of human involvement and human creativity
             | involved is a very critical part of copyright law.
        
           | SkyBelow wrote:
           | What if there is an AI built from the best impersonators
           | without the input of the original? What if someone goes
           | through enough effort to even get them to agree for their
           | voice to be used as such?
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | GaggiX wrote:
       | Well fortunately most people I see making AI covers they use open
       | source tools to do that (https://github.com/RVC-
       | Project/Retrieval-based-Voice-Convers...)
        
       | 14 wrote:
       | Will they do a China style internet and attempt to lock it down
       | to only approved websites? The cat is out of the bag and there is
       | no stopping it. Personally I welcome this technology. Just this
       | morning I listened to Drake and The Weekend with my kids it's an
       | okay song. My bet is we will see Drake and The Weekend actually
       | perform this song live. I suggest they find a way to embrace
       | this.
        
       | hyperbovine wrote:
       | List of technologies RIAA has successfully sued out of existence:
        
         | mikece wrote:
         | Kinda hard to sue a _technology_ out of existence. The closest
         | that comes to mind is Napster but that was a brand, not the
         | technology per se (though it did become the legal precedent for
         | going after illegal sharing and distribution of copyrighted
         | music).
        
         | meepmorp wrote:
         | You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
        
           | rbanffy wrote:
           | Someone needs to pay all those lawyers.
        
       | spandextwins wrote:
       | The poop has left the chute.
        
       | dsgnr wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | angryasian wrote:
       | corporations weaponinzing the government to hold back progress.
       | nothing new here.
        
         | kbenson wrote:
         | That seems a somewhat extreme take. Do you feel the same about
         | copyright? Should I be able to record someone else speaking or
         | singing and sell it?
        
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       (page generated 2023-10-11 16:01 UTC)