0087: AI, Synthetic Voices and Anne Ganguzza – Part 2

Raw transcript:

when we last left our hero
she was providing us with her wisdom and
her knowledge and saving us from the
fear uncertainty and doubt of artificial
intelligence and synthetic voices and Ai
and deep fakes
and ganguza is back for a follow-up on
the last episode that we did about these
particular subjects and we’ll talk more
with her in just a moment on this
episode of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
so last time I spoke with you Ann
ganguza yes a vo box podcast and vo
peeps uh
what via boss Vio boss I’m sorry what
did I say box set box this is really
interesting
um that session that we were on the
other day yeah I thought they were
saying queer box oh queer Vox but they
were saying queervox that’s what I knew
and I’m like is there another place now
where are lgbtqia plus Community can go
see no and it sounds just like queervox
all right so this is and and we’re voice
people right we should be understandable
so Ann uh and I have worked together for
years I’ve been to Anne’s house many
times I’ve I’ve been uh treated to the
joy of of Jerry’s food on multiple
occasions we’ve taught together we’ve
we’ve uh taught for each other uh we’ve
been coaches together and I listen when
Anne speaks because
she’s thoughtful
she’s smart
she’s open to new ideas
and she has a really balanced approach
to the kind of neutrality of Technology
as well as the positive and negative
sides of things thank you very much for
listening to this episode see you later
no uh and and we kind of left it you
were I had asked you a question at the
end of of the the previous episode that
we had done on artificial intelligence
and synthetic media
um
what do you tell to somebody
who says to you flat out this is bad
that this is going to kill our careers
I’d like to extend that
a little further into how do we care for
people who aren’t like you for people
who have a difficulty hitting the record
button properly like they’re just
technology
averse or technology challenged we both
work with those kinds of people all the
time I have a special place in my art
for those people and like the media in
general and how they speak about
political divisions that we have in our
country and social divisions and
tribalism this feels like an issue
that could really tear a community apart
in that someone could look at what
you’re saying about all this and saying
hey don’t worry about this this is like
we we’re watching this happen we’re
paying attention to it we’re in the very
early stages of it and them thinking
you’re dangerous you’re dangerous to me
because you have a different opinion
than I do how do you approach those
things in a way that’s gentle and also
uh helps to bring people around
wow you know that’s a that’s a good
question but I think you know stemming
from my my teacher Roots
um I’ve always at my very core been an
educator and I think that that’s really
where I start with with that I mean it
it’s a long discussion and you know it’s
it’s a long discussion I found out not
just for you know let’s say people who
are are looking into this technology but
but the AI companies themselves I mean
it’s more than just the voice over
industry that okay let me let me let me
interrupt you real quick AI
meaning synthetic voices not AI in other
areas is that right well yeah yeah and
I’m and I’m speaking like so the AI
community at large right and AI
companies at large it’s more than just
the synthetic voices
um you know it’s acceptance of this
technology from you know on a global
scale you know it reminds me of when I
would install Voiceover IP phone systems
back in you know uh the the 90s and it
was like this technology will never work
it will never you know it sucks it you
know it doesn’t work and you know today
gosh we’re we’re all talking over voice
over IP and so you know it’s just we’ve
evolved along with it so I always start
um I always start with education and I
think that if we think we have issues
right so do so do the the companies that
are presenting this and so it it starts
with an education and again as I
mentioned so many times knowledge is
power find out
um educate yourself and understand and
how the technology works because it’s
easy to just spout off on a you know
maybe a Facebook group about no the
technology is evil but you’re really not
basing that on any clear facts um and
I’ve actually you know known some people
to say well why would a why would a
company charge you money to create a
voice or to you know store a voice and
in reality if you understand a little
bit more about the technology it’s not
just about a voice or a file that’s
stored on a computer it really is
something much more involved when you
have a voice created and again I I would
not have known that had I not done
research and you’ve spoken to people and
read up on these things and so
understanding that something becomes
more now like a revenue share if you
have a voice with a company it’s
important for you to just as any client
that you work with you know research
that company I mean is this a a company
you want to work with is this a company
that you want to produce your voice is
this company ethical
um you know is this company concerned
about protecting uh protecting your
voice and having you own the license to
your voice and those are the important
questions to ask I think we need to know
what are the things that we need to ask
these companies and what are these what
are we willing to accept or not accept
when we choose to work in this and have
a synthetic voice created or not I mean
I think you just need to have the basis
of an education first before you start
saying oh no it’s going to take my job
away because again as I mentioned in the
last episode you I ha myself had to had
to really dig deep to really understand
that yes it can be something that is
added to our toolbox it’s not something
that’s going to take away and if
everybody is looking into it in that or
has that same that same approach to it
then we are on a Level Playing Field and
we all are able to to grow to grow our
businesses
okay I I think that
um the two main threats that I hear
people talk about all the time is that
synthetic voices are going to take
business from me they’re going to take
work from me they’re gonna they’re gonna
lessen my income and then there’s
another fear that these companies are
going to find a sample of my voice and
they’re going to create a version of it
for their library that people can buy
without me getting any money from that
and there’s probably a dozen other
things that people are concerned about
uh people being replaced by automation
which is nothing new that’s been
happening for centuries yeah uh
beginning with the Industrial Revolution
maybe even before that with not the
Industrial Revolution but the
Agricultural Revolution you know instead
of a horse-drawn plow something else was
going on
um you know those things are on one side
of this spectrum and I think that there
is something to be said for that because
it is going to happen as you said in the
last episode
and on the other side of that
on the on the sort of upside of that are
three more letters in addition to Ai and
those three letters are n-i-l if you’re
a college football fan and you don’t
know what nil means it means name image
likeness and Ann and I both live in
California which have a name image
likeness state laws around how people’s
image can be uh exploited both when
they’re alive and after they die
and that extends into their name their
brand uh their their voice everything
about what they do you know we see these
deep fakes all the time of people who
are no longer with us
and we think to ourselves immediately
did their estate approve that you know
like we’re we’re a lot more uh capable
here than we think we are but name image
likeness is changing the world of
college football because student
athletes
are now going to benefit from
the exploitation of their name their
image and their likeness by the
universities that they attend and those
universities making billions of dollars
you know I I wear a Chris olave Jersey
when I watch Ohio State games because I
love what he did and what he’s going to
do in the NFL I mean the the name image
like this thing on the other side do you
think about that do you think about
licensing your voice do you think about
licensing not just your voice but your
way of speaking do you think about the
future of that oh gosh absolutely I mean
I think that
um again it’s something that as we are
all becoming more aware and like I said
if if defect if deep fakes didn’t happen
there wouldn’t be the uprising to say oh
my gosh this shouldn’t happen and we
need regulations we need laws um and so
I I think that it’s important that that
your voice is protected your likeness
your image your brand is protected I
think that’s absolutely important and
because of these things that are
happening now it’s good for us as an
industry because uh it just means that
that the Trends are now going to be
people will be looking for that there
will be contracts and and standards that
will be set so that those will be put in
place for us and so
um and and I think that’s absolutely
like what I’m not even sure what more we
can do than to have those safeguards in
place with uh laws and regulations that
help protect us uh and our image really
and yeah it’s not just about synthetic
voices it’s absolutely about you know
and now you know like this image avatars
that will be coming out
um as we engage in the metaverse I mean
it’s there’s going to be a whole new
kind of world coming around and I think
if we don’t start thinking about these
things now we’re going to be sadly left
in the dust yeah and you know I think
they’re they’re people’s heads that are
exploding right now as we speak
metaverse
is there a blockchain involved is there
something you know so uh I want people
to come listen to not just your current
episodes but all of your back episodes
on this as well thank you yes uh vo boss
is available where at voboss.com and wow
that’s interesting yeah okay voboss.com
go ahead and actually you know for every
single episode I do a a Blog uh show
notes on it so that you know basically
we’ve got takeaways we’ve got a summary
we’ve got links to anything that’s
referenced in the episode so you know it
really is just a nice piece of
information for you to go and check out
and listen to the episode as well and
and a lot of what I spoke about even
though they might be you know day days
like this I mean things change on a week
week to week basis but a lot of the
concepts that I that I bring up again
and again with people from different
companies is how do you handle uh
licensing of voices how you know do you
have an Ethics you know what is your
ethics policy in dealing with synthetic
voices and so
um I’m always asking those questions
because those are important to us and
where do you see the future of this
going where do you see the future of
your company going so I think
um again like I said any one of those
episodes will be applicable today and I
try to keep them up to date as well I do
bonus episodes once a month
um so you’ll see them uh continually you
know populating the pages there so
cool yeah so we’ll put a link to the
obos.com in the show notes of this
episode
um and I can tell you that if you’re
looking for someone to actually put your
faith in to uh someone who would
actually think about things in an
intelligent and enlightened way and from
the perspective of being a performer
uh and ganguza is is someone you want to
put very much at the top of your list
um I I appreciate you being on with us
and I hope that people go and subscribe
to vo boss and listen not just for the
uh synthetic voice stuff that you do but
for everything else that you do as well
because you’re a great teacher and I
really appreciate you being on thank you
so much David it was an absolutely my
pleasure I absolutely love talking to
you love talking Tech that’s great uh
listen if you want to hear when we’re
going to do this and by the way please
in the in the comments below and by the
comments below I mean on veoheros.com
where the conversation is kept sane it’s
kept calm and and and uh you know at
least respectful uh let me know what you
think about this what are your biggest
concerns what are your concerns no
longer maybe this has changed your mind
a little bit maybe this is uh done uh
something to help ease your mind let me
know in the comments below hit the like
button the share button if you know of a
voice Talent or an actor who would
benefit from understanding a little bit
more about the differences between
artificial intelligence and synthetic
voices and how it affects us as
performers uh you know if you hit the
notification Bell you’ll get notified
when these episodes come up and uh I’d
love to see you in the next episode of
the video Heroes podcast I’m David H
Lawrence 17. thanks for watching and for
listening
[Music]

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