Sen. Blumenthal opens Senate hearing with A.I. deepfake of his own voice

I'm going to show you something you might think you've seen a million times, but I promise you you have never seen it quite like this. Today, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal gave the opening statement at a Senate judiciary hearing. Here's how that went. And now for some introductory remarks. Too often we have seen what happens when technology outpaces regulation. The unbridled exploitation of personal data. The proliferation of disinformation.

And the deepening of societal inequalities. We have seen how algorithmic biases can perpetuate discrimination and prejudice. And how the lack of transparency can undermine public trust. This is not the future we want. That was not a lip-sync fail. That voice was not Senator Blumenthal's. And those words were not his.

That was actually the result of artificial intelligence voice cloning software, studying Blumenthal's Senate speeches and spitting out congressional remarks in the style of Senator Blumenthal and brought to you by chat GPT. That deepfake was the opening salvo in today's hearing on the oversight of AI, a technology that has been advancing at breakneck speed. Its proposed potential uses have ranged from helpful and creative to unnerving and disruptive. In some cases AI has made it easier for students to cheat. It has fueled scams and churned out disinformation. In other cases, it is assisting students with disabilities. It is giving people with ALS their voices back and it is aiding in the fight against climate change.

But all of this is happening while lawmakers have fallen behind on regulating this technology. And that is why the committee brought in the CEO of chat GPT, Sam Altman, to testify today. Altman did something exceedingly rare for the leader of a tech company. He asked the government for intervention, like licensing and safety requirements for AI models. He also expressed concerns about how fast this technology is moving. My worst fears are that we cause significant, we the field, the technology, the industry cause significant harm to the world. I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong.

And we want to be vocal about that. We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening. Now at this point, it seems like the AI generated horse has left the virtual barn. So let's hope that Congress can catch up.

Alex Wagner