听起来像你的那个声音

我给你听一个东西，你猜这是谁的声音。

Let me play you something. Guess whose voice this is.

这就是你的声音，可是我没听你这样说过，这是怎么回事？

That's your voice, but I've never heard you say this before. What's going on?

其实这不是我现在说的。我写了一条短信，用一个新软件把这条短信变成语音，软件用我以前说话的录音，把我的声音克隆出来，所以你听到的，是克隆的语音，不是我真的在说话。

Actually I'm not saying this right now. I typed a text message, and a new app turned the message into audio. The app used recordings of me talking before to clone my voice, so what you're hearing is a cloned voice, not me actually speaking.

什么？声音也能克隆？这个我是第一次听说。

What? A voice can be cloned too? This is the first I've heard of it.

对，软件学会了我的声音以后，不管我写什么字，它都能用克隆的语音说出来，听起来跟我自己说的一样。

Right, once the app has learned my voice, no matter what I type, it can say it out loud in the cloned voice, and it sounds just like me saying it myself.

真的一样吗？你妈妈打电话的时候，能分辨出来吗？

Really the same? When your mom is on the phone, can she tell the difference?

我给你说结果吧。上个星期我把一条短信变成语音，打电话给我妈妈，让她听。她后来告诉我，她完全没分辨出来，还以为是我自己在跟她说话。

Let me just tell you what happened. Last week I turned a text into audio and called my mom to let her listen. She told me afterward that she couldn't tell the difference at all, and thought it was really me talking to her.

你为什么不直接打电话，要用这个东西？

Why not just call her directly, why use this thing?

我妈妈年纪大了，看手机上的字，眼睛很累，但是听语音，她觉得很方便，也很高兴，好像我真的在跟她说话一样。

My mom is getting older, and reading text on her phone tires her eyes. But listening to audio, she finds it very convenient, and it makes her happy, like I'm really talking to her.

这个我理解，对年纪大的人是真的有用。但是我有一个担忧：声音已经能被克隆了，如果有一天，别人拿到你的语音，用来冒充你，怎么办？

I understand that, it's genuinely useful for older people. But I have a worry: since a voice can already be cloned, what happens the day someone else gets hold of your voice and uses it to impersonate you?

你是说，有人可能用我的声音，冒充我打电话给我妈妈，骗她的钱？

You mean someone could use my voice, impersonate me on a call to my mom, and trick her out of money?

对。你只要有几句语音，软件就能学会，然后冒充你的声音，打电话给银行，或者打电话给你家里人，要钱，做坏事。你妈妈已经分辨不出真假了，这不是很危险吗？

Right. With just a few sentences of your voice, an app can learn it, and then impersonate your voice to call a bank, or call your family, asking for money, doing bad things. Your mom already can't tell real from fake, isn't that dangerous?

你说得对，这不是没有道理的担忧，我自己也担忧过。但是我觉得，不能因为可能被冒充，就完全不用这个技术帮我妈妈。

You're right, that's not a worry without reason, I've worried about it myself too. But I think that just because someone might impersonate me, that doesn't mean I should stop using the technology to help my mom at all.

我不是说不能用，我是说，你们应该商量一个办法。比如打电话的时候，先说一个只有你们两个人知道的词，这样她才能分辨真假。

I'm not saying don't use it. I'm saying you two should work out a plan. For example, saying a word only the two of you know first, on the phone, so she can tell what's real.

这个办法不错，我们家真的应该商量一下。方便和危险，可能真的是一件事的两面，你的担忧，我不会忽视。

That's a good idea, my family should really talk about that. Convenience and danger might really be two sides of the same thing. I won't ignore your worry.