Deciphered, counterfeit, modified: the metamorphoses of the voice<

Une folle arnaque a récemment défrayé la chronique. En septembre dernier, le Wall Street Journal révélait qu’en mars des aigrefins avaient ravi la coquette somme de 220 000 euros à une entreprise britannique. Comment ? En simulant la voix du dirigeant de la maison mère allemande. La victime britannique avait reçu un appel téléphonique de son – faux – patron, lui ordonnant d’effectuer en urgence un virement sur un compte hongrois. Cette voix artificielle imitait l’accent germanique du patron et ses intonations. « Le résultat n’est pas parfait, mais peut faire illusion dans un environnement sonore perturbé»», confiait au Monde Jean-Baptiste Mounier, salarié d’Euler Hermes, l’assureur qui a divulgué l’affaire au Wall Street Journal.

Have the crooks used an artificial intelligence (AI) to create a synthetic voice?Did they use Deep Learning procedures ("deep learning"), based on a recorded speech of the boss?Experts hardly believe it - especially among those who have had a profession of manipulating human voice in all directions.

A ballet of musicians-researchers

Place Igor-Stravinsky, in Paris.The floor wrench, flanked by the monumental nana and the large metal automata.Bathed by the tutelary shadow of the Pompidou center, the fire bird contemplates them.Love, from his scarlet mouth, invites us to dive into the basement.So here we are under the famous fountain of Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle.We enter the Laboratories of IRCAM (Institute for Research and Acoustic-Music Coordination).There, a whole ballet of musicians-researchers activates.Underground, to limit any parasitic noise.It is that this institute, founded by Pierre Boulez in 1970, is devoted to contemporary musical creation.But also in the decoding, the transformation and synthesis of the spoken or sung voice.A unique center, by its dimension and its influence, which mixes art, science and technologies.

Transform human voice to way?Transfigure it, even the counterfeit?This is enough to disturb, as our voice seems to us an intimate part of our identity.As each voice seems singular to us.But then, the faked voice scam, which is added to other vocal scams?"We have strong doubts about the use of an artificial intelligence in this context," explains Axel Roebel, head of the analysis and synthesis team of IRCAM sounds (CNRS-Sorbonne University).For the moment, conversational agents - Alexa of Amazon, for example - are able to lead a dialogue but they lack a lot of expressiveness.With such agents, imitate the intonation and German accent of a person, in a context of open dialogue, seems to me today impossible.»»

You have 84 left.35% of this article to read.The rest is reserved for subscribers.