Exploring Truecaller’s New Digital Voice Feature
Imagine a world where your digital assistant doesn’t just work for you; it speaks like you too. Truecaller, the renowned app for identifying and blocking spam calls, has now introduced an avant-garde feature – the Truecaller Assistant. This digital marvel can create a replica of your own voice, providing a personalized response to your incoming phone calls.
Truecaller’s innovative steps are fueled by the power of Microsoft Azure AI Speech, a technology that allows for the creation of personalized voice models. This AI-driven speech synthesis was initially unveiled to select users at Ignite 2023 and has now reached a broader audience. Microsoft’s recent blog post goes into depth about how this technology can craft a voice that’s virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
Azure AI Speech’s versatility extends to various domains, including language translation that retains the original speaker’s vocal characteristics, content creation for videos, audiobooks, and podcasts, and, as showcased by Truecaller, voice assistance.
Truecaller’s announcement highlighted the user-centric nature of this integration. “By integrating Microsoft Azure AI Speech’s personal voice capability into Truecaller, we’ve taken a significant step towards delivering a truly personalized and engaging communication experience,” they stated. The feature is designed to infuse calls handled by the digital assistant with a layer of familiarity and comfort.
Microsoft remains vigilant about the ethical use of its voice synthesis technology, mandating explicit consent from individuals whose voices are replicated and clear disclosure that the voice is synthetic. Following some high-profile incidents of voice impersonation, Microsoft has emphasized its stance against using the technology for deception or impersonation.
In recognition of security concerns, Microsoft also embeds a watermark in audio outputs from personal voices, boasting a 99.7% accuracy rate in detecting these watermarks to prevent misuse.
Truecaller, aligning with security protocols, clarifies when a voice is digitally replicated. To avail yourself of this cutting-edge feature, users are required to record a brief sample of their voice, which Truecaller’s system will then use to generate the digital voice. Access to this feature requires the latest Truecaller app and a Truecaller Premium subscription, available at .99 per month.
This isn’t the first instance where Azure AI Speech has been employed in the digital realm. Stardock incorporated eight hours of AI-generated voiceover in the game Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova. An interview with Stardock’s Brad Wardell included comparisons between a voice actor and an AI-generated counterpart, showcasing the impressive realism of Azure’s voice generation capabilities.
