ElevenLabs AI voice generator

Released: January 2023

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Prime Voice AI (since renamed ElevenLabs TTS) is a text-to-voice generator for content creators and publishers developed by ElevenLabs. Launched in January 2023 as a beta, ElevenLabs described Prime Voice AI on its website as 'The most realistic and versatile AI speech software, ever,' and was praised by some users for the speed, quality, and realism of its output. 

The system's launch was marred by criticism for the ease with which it could generate offensive messages in the names of celebrities, public officials, and other individuals, and for it's ability to produce convincing deepfakes and other forms of disinformation and misinformation for fraud and other malicious purposes

It was also used by AI proponents to harrass and doxx voice actors in their own voices who were complaining about the increasingly widespread use of voice cloning technology and it's actual and potential impact on voiceover industry jobs. ElevenLabs' technology may also have been used in a campaign to harrass and doxx video game voice actors with their own AI voices.

In October 2023, New York City mayor Eric Adams was blasted for robo-calling local residents using audio deepfakes generated by ElevenLabs to communicate in languages he doesn't speak.

Operator: ElevenLabs
Developer: ElevenLabs

Country: UK; Global

Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts

Purpose: Generate audio

Technology: Text-to-speech; Deep learning; Machine learning
Issue: Employment; Ethics; Mis/disinformation; Privacy; Safety

Transparency: Governance; Marketing

Page info
Type: System
Published: January 2023
Last updated: October 2023