What I Learned: Some Cool Stuff (and an important warning)
Some more cool stuff from a busy week.
Hi everyone!
It's been another busy week, so I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to dive into anything too in-depth. However, there have been a few interesting AI-related developments that I wanted to share.
AI Music
Udio.ai
This is the thing everyone is talking about this week. An Australian AI company called Udio has just released their latest music generation tool and it’s genuinely remarkable.
I highly recommend just checking it out for yourself and listening to some of its generations, but as far as a text-to-music application goes, this is one of the most shockingly high-quality and emotional AI music I’ve heard. I actually wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between these clips and real music.
The best example I’ve heard though is this song: "Dune, the Musical". Everything from the lyrics to the cheerful harmony is mind-blowing to me. To think the level of sophistication in these AI-generated compositions is only the beta version of the app, and where this could be going is crazy.
AI Voice Cloning
On a more cautionary note, I've also come across some concerning reports about the rapid advancement of AI voice cloning technology. Tools like Elevenlabs can now generate incredibly realistic voice replicas with just a few minutes of sample audio. I don’t think it will be long until only a few seconds of audio is required.
It’s cool, but also presents a major security risk, as it means bad actors could pretty easily bypass voice-based authentication systems, like many of us have with our banks.
I would strongly encourage everyone to reach out to their banks and other financial institutions that use voice authorization and request that they provide alternative authentication methods. The pace of progress in AI is exciting, but the world is changing quickly and we all need to be proactive about protecting ourselves.
Conclusion
Overall, it's been a mixed bag this week. Some amazing technology releases, some scary impacts.
I continue to eye the calendar until May when I hope our busy season at work begins to slow down.
Thanks again for reading, and have a great day!