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Generative AI has a plethora of well - documentedmisuses , frommaking up academic paperstocopying artists . And now , it looks like pasture up in country influence operations .
One recent campaign was “ very potential ” help oneself by commercial-grade AI articulation generation Cartesian product , include tech publicly released by thehot startupElevenLabs , according to arecent reportfrom Massachusetts - based threat intelligence party record Future .
The report describes a Russian - tied safari designed to subvert Europe ’s livelihood for Ukraine , dub “ Operation Undercut , ” that prominently used AI - generated voiceovers on simulated or misleading “ news program ” videos .
The video , which targeted European audiences , assail Ukrainian politicians as corrupt or query the usefulness of military aid to Ukraine , among other themes . For instance , one television touted that “ even jammer ca n’t economize American Abrams armored combat vehicle , ” touch to devices used by US tanks to deflect incoming missile – reinforcing the stage that sending eminent - tech armour to Ukraine is purposeless . The theme states that the video God Almighty “ very likely ” used voice - generated AI , include ElevenLabs tech , to make their content appear more legitimate . To verify this , Recorded Future ’s investigator render the clip to ElevenLabs ’ ownAI Speech Classifier , which ply the ability for anyone to “ notice whether an audio clip was create using ElevenLabs , ” and get a catch .
ElevenLabs did not answer to asking for comment . Although Recorded Future noted the potential manipulation of several commercial AI representative multiplication tools , it did not name any others besides ElevenLabs .
The usefulness of AI voice contemporaries was unwittingly showcased by the influence cause ’s own orchestrators , who – rather sloppily – released some videos with real human voiceovers that had “ a observable Russian speech pattern . ” In contrast , the AI - generated voiceovers spoke in multiple European speech communication like English , French , German , and Polish , with no alien - sounding accents .
According to Recorded Future , AI also allowed for the misleading cartridge holder to be quickly unloose in multiple languages spoken in Europe like English , German , French , Polish , and Turkish ( by the bye , all languagessupportedby ElevenLabs . )
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Recorded Future attribute the bodily process to the Social Design Agency , a Russia - based arrangement that the U.S. governmentsanctionedthis March for unravel “ a net of over 60 websites that impersonated genuine news organization in Europe , then used phony societal medium accounts to amplify the misleading content of the spoofed websites . ” All this was done “ on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation , ” the U.S. State Department order at the time .
The overall shock of the hunting expedition on public opinion in Europe was minimum , Recorded Future concluded .
This is n’t the first fourth dimension ElevenLabs ’ products have been single out for supposed misuse . The company ’s tech was behind a robocall impersonating President Joe Biden that urged voters not to go out and vote during a primary election in January 2024 , a voice pseudo detecting company concluded , according to Bloomberg . In reply , ElevenLabs enounce it released new safety equipment lineament like automatically obstruct voices of politicians .
ElevenLabsbans“unauthorized , harmful , or delusory impersonation ” andsaysit employ various putz to enforce this , such as both automated and human relief .
ElevenLabs has experienced explosive growth since its institution in 2022 . It recentlygrew ARR to $ 80 million from $ 25 millionless than a year in the first place , and may presently be value at $ 3 billion , TechCrunch antecedently report . Its investor let in Andreessen Horowitz and former Github CEO Nat Friedman .
