A woman who said that she used voice-cloning software to catch her boyfriend cheating has fooled the internet instead.
In a viral video posted to TikTok on April 19, influencer Mia Dio said that she used an artificial-intelligence [AI] clone of her boyfriend Billy's voice to call his friend. Apparently, the 26-year-old has been acting strangely, so Dio called Billy's pal to fish for information. However, the whole thing was an elaborate prank to highlight the dangers of AI, with the voice-cloning software she used 100 percent real.
"It was around $4," Dio, from Salt Lake City, Utah, told Newsweek. "It was extremely convincing, even to me."
The 22-year-old met Billy while on vacation in Colombia a year ago. Recently, the couple were talking about AI, and Dio was shocked to learn that you can accurately clone someone's voice. The pair decided to test the software, downloading the app, and were stunned by its accuracy.
"There's been a lot of debate surrounding AI and its potential benefits and harmful implications," Dio said. "I thought it would be very relevant to create this kind of video to reflect the current state of AI usage."
A survey conducted between November 19 and December 3, 2021 by Ipsos for the World Economic Forum asked 19,504 adults under the age of 75 across 28 countries for their thoughts on artificial intelligence—and how quickly it appears to be progressing. Researchers discovered that 64 percent felt like they had a "good understanding of AI," but only 52 percent said that the positives outweighed the negatives.
Still, 60 percent replied that AI will profoundly change their lives in the next three to five years, while 39 percent were nervous about the software's potential uses.
Voice-cloning scams have been on the increase in the U.S., with criminals deceiving their victims through software similar to one that Dio used for the prank. The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning in March about the scams. Con artists need only a 20-second recording to accurately replicate someone's voice—something that can easily be grabbed from social-media clips.
Dio and Billy devised their prank together. To begin, Dio had to create a recording of Billy's voice using a voice memo on her cellphone. She then wrote a natural-sounding script for the AI software to replicate, based on a previous experience with an unfaithful ex.
"I began thinking about scenarios in my own life where an AI voice imitation would have been useful," Dio said. "I thought about an ex who had cheated on me and how this type of technology would have saved me a lot of time."
She then called their friend *Jake, 26, on the tablet and let the software read the script. The conversation begins with a simple "Hey man, what's up?" before asking Jake if "he's alone."
In the video, Dio pretends to be stunned by the recording's accuracy, saying "it sounds exactly like him."
"I don't remember much from last night," the AI version of Billy continues. "What did I do?"
Jake tells "Billy" that he got drunk at a bar called MacDintons before picking up a "random sorority girl" from the University of Utah. He "made out with her in front of everyone," before crashing at Jake's place.
A devastated-looking Dio then ends the clip, before promising to confront her boyfriend in "Part Two." Like Billy, Jake was in on the prank from the beginning, but was unaware of the script details.
"We let the recording play out like an organic conversation while filming the video," Dio said. "[Jake] thought it was hilarious and was shocked at how real it sounded."
The video quickly went viral, convincing many viewers and receiving over 2.6 million views and more than 1,270 comments.
"She may be sad, but she's a sad genius," posted Teresa Jack.
"That shocked me.. you deserve better!" wrote keanu.
User yongyuuung01 asked: "Is this legal?"
Dio said that she and Billy have a "super-healthy relationship" and that he would never cheat on her. However, she chose to keep his identity private in the video so he wouldn't be harassed by angry TikTok users.
"The reaction to the cheating online was largely supportive of me and I appreciated the love my fans gave, even though it ended up being a prank," Dio said. She is glad that the video has raised awareness of how easy it is to clone someone's voice and coordinate a scam using AI software.
"Education is important, so that people are able to protect themselves against this kind of scam," Dio added. "It was a fast and straightforward process and did not require any sort of background in technology."
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