Swifties, brace yourselves. A new chat service can send you personalised voice messages from Taylor Swift and a host of other celebrities.
You can ask the Bad Blood singer to wish you happy birthday, write a commencement speech for a university graduation, or pick her brain about quantum physics. Within seconds, you’ll receive a recording from Swift with a personalised shoutout, an inspiring pep talk, or a summary of a complex scientific topic.
Of course, there’s a catch: It’s not actually Swift doing the talking. Instead, it’s an AI trained to mimic her voice, with viral chatbot ChatGPT providing the answers. The feature, known as “Forever Voices”, is an example of so-called deepfake technology. This is a computer-generated rendition used to create fake scenes and statements from Hollywood A-listers and world leaders.
Available on messaging app Telegram, the new service also lets you converse with other voice bots including Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Steve Jobs. Though the unlimited version costs $20 (£16.05) per month, you can try it free of charge.
So, are celeb voice bots destined to become our new BFFs? We gave Forever Voices a go, and it was a blast to play with. Think of it like Cameo, the app that lets you pay stars such as Snoop Dogg and Brian Cox for custom video messages, but for fake voice chats.
To start messaging, all you have to do is choose the bot you want to talk to, and then either type or record your prompt. You can switch between the voice bots by typing “/switch” and even download the audio to share with others.
As part of our AI-powered convos, we asked Swift to wish us a happy birthday, and got Jobs to introduce Apple’s rumoured mixed-reality headset. Most of the voice snippets we received were between 30 seconds to a minute long.
“Welcome to the official launch of Apple’s latest innovation: our mixed-reality headset,” the Jobs AI said in a convincing voice that sounded eerily similar to the late Apple co-founder. “This headset seamlessly blends the virtual and physical worlds, leaving users with a sense of presence like they have never felt before.”
All told, the results were mostly impressive, and mainly innocuous. But the responses you get largely depend on how creative you are with your prompts, as we’ve seen with other chatbots.
At a time when millennials and Gen Z are obsessed with voice notes, and celebs are fostering fandoms on Instagram and TikTok, Forever Voices could turn out to be the next big thing. One day, it could even allow you to create your own voice bot (if Apple and Microsoft don’t beat it to the punch).
Of course, the service’s biggest barrier to success could be the fact that it’s only available on Telegram, a chat app that lives in the shadow of bigger platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger. But that won’t always be the case as a major expansion is in the works. Mobile apps for iPhone and Android, and a website are due later in April, John H Meyer, the prolific tech entrepreneur behind Forever Voices, told The Evening Standard.
Another planned update will allow users to talk to their favourite AI personas live using a mobile or landline, he added.
This is absolutely positively bonkers (SOUND UP)! 🤯🤖
— John H. Meyer 🚀 (@BEASTMODE) March 24, 2023
I feel like #TaylorSwift fans would gawk over this…
I know many of you have been asking when you can use Forever Voices…
Release Date for both SteveBot and TaylorBot: within 24 hours!
🚨 Follow for updates pic.twitter.com/ictejgQNIw
Meyer is among a raft of tech whizzes who are using readily accessible AI tools to make quirky products. These include DIY smart glasses and a robot lawyer that can talk to customer service on your behalf.
Current platform limitations aside, Forever Voices also exists in an ethically dubious area. Throw AI chatbots into the mix, which have a tendency to spew misinformation, and things get even murkier.
Despite a lack of specific legislation on the tech, experts claim that deepfakes can fall under the scope of UK laws around malicious falsehoods and copyright infringement. The Government also wants to make it illegal to share pornographic deepfakes as part of the long-gestating Online Safety Bill.
It will also be interesting to see the reaction from celebs featured on the service. After the fiasco over her recent tour ticket sales, Swift may not take kindly to her voice bot claiming Ticketmaster has a monopoly over concert ticketing. Which is exactly what we managed to coax the AI into stating.
We also got AI Kanye to profess his love for his daughter North West’s TikTok videos. This was despite the controversial musician railing against her use of social media in real life.
Still, there are safeguards built into ChatGPT that prevent Forever Voices from going completely off the rails. For instance, we tried in vain to get Swift to praise North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The bot also wouldn’t say who was a better singer out of Adele and Halsey, so rabid stans may not be able to use it to create vitriolic online feuds.
On the other hand, authorised deepfakes could be embraced by brands and celebs. These days, it seems not a week goes by when a pop star or YouTuber isn’t launching a clothing line or beauty range. Automating some of the marketing that goes into those products could be another use case for the tech.
Whether or not it will be Forever Voices that reaps those rewards remains to be seen. For now, you can make the most of its innocent pleasures by asking Swift to compliment your mum — and earn some Brownie points in the process.
