DemetrIA: Artificial intelligence and ethics for the voice cloning of grandfather Demetrio

Abstract

Voice cloning using artificial intelligence (AI) is possible nowadays. However, it poses many challenges from the ethical point of view. This article examines the potential and ethics of AI for cloning the voice of a deceased family member. In particular, we cloned the voice of grandfather Demetrio, who left his family 50 years ago when he was only 47, leaving many messages to be transmitted. Demetrio’s voice was found in an old cassette tape provided by family members. First, his voice was digitalized and denoised using AI techniques. Next, a model of the grandfather’s voice was created using replicate, a fine-tune opensource model based on AI. One of his grandsons gave his voice to transmit a message to Demetrio’s daughters, which was modulated with the AI model containing the main features of Demetrio’s voice. The grandfather model was thus merged with the grandson’s voice, using contextualized text to recreate the grandfather’s way of communicating. The article addresses the ethical and social implications of this technology, highlighting its therapeutic potential in addressing complex emotions such as bereavement. The importance of an ethical a