OPENAI UNVEILS AUDIO FEATURE THAT READ TEXTS, CLONES HUMAN VOICES

spokesperson for OpenAI said the company decided to scale back the release after receiving feedback from stakeholders such as policymakers, industry experts, educators and creatives. The company had initially planned to release the tool to as many as 100 developers through an application process, according to the earlier press briefing.

"We recognize that generating speech that resembles people's voices has serious risks, which are especially top of mind in an election year," the company wrote in a blog post Friday. "We are engaging with US and international partners from across government, media, entertainment, education, civil society and beyond to ensure we are incorporating their feedback as we build."

Other AI technology has already been used to fake voices in some contexts. In January, a bogus but realistic-sounding phone call purporting to be from President Joe Biden encouraged people in New Hampshire not to vote in the primaries - an event that stoked AI fears ahead of critical global elections.