It allowed her to talk to the ghosts of her past loved ones. A Missouri man brought the internet to tears by using artificial intelligence to revive his late father’s voice as a special Christmas card for his mother. “This Christmas I decided to do something special for my mom,” Phillip Willett, 27, explained in the caption. He wanted to do something unique to honor his “hero” and decided to resurrect him digitally using AI, specifically technology that he uses frequently in his work. Mr Willett was initially hesitant to use words similar to his father’s, he said, as he felt it was “strange”. But the digital guru finally came up with this idea after finding a community of people who use technology to communicate digitally with their deceased loved ones. The Missouri resident specifically used Eleven Labs’ text-to-speech software to match his late father’s exact voice. This he considered to be the most important thing to make the project a reality. Using this technology, content creators were able to create digital dead ringers that matched the tone and rhythm of their fathers. “The first words I actually put into the program were ‘Hello, honey,'” Willett said. “And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that.” [my late father] That’s why I put it into my life first. “When the show said it in his voice…I got chills all over,” added the author, who said he worked all day on the gift. “This Christmas I decided to do something special for my mom,” Willett, 27, said. They then created a digital Christmas card using their father’s voice to simulate him being home for the holidays. In the touching clip, Willett’s mother Trish Willett is seen opening a video book featuring a montage of photos of the two of them. Suddenly, her late husband greeted her: “Hello, honey, I love you,” the AI voice actor piped up as the widow sobbed. “I hear your prayers.” I want you to know that you are the best mother to our children.” The facsimile added: “And you are the strongest woman in the whole world. I will always be with you, honey, I hope you guys have a merry Christmas.” The clip ends with mother and son embracing in a heart-wrenching memory. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard his voice,” Willett said, adding that she thought the result was “amazing.” “I can also say with confidence that it will be easier for her to get through this holiday because she remembers him and knows that he will always be with her,” he concluded. TikTok commentators were similarly moved to tears by the heartfelt gesture. “Oh yeah. Here’s another Tik Tok where I sob for people I’ve never met,” said one viewer, expressing their emotion, while another said: “I knew I was going to cry but I still couldn’t stop.” Another viewer added, “Because I think your father deserves to be known.” Willett initially found the idea “bizarre” but was swayed to find a community of people thinking the same thing. A third said: “I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer 2 years ago. I don’t know if I can survive this but I miss his voice so much.” Willett replied: It was definitely a tearful process. But it turned out to be something very special.” This comes as a number of companies, from Somnium to DeepBrain, are working on AI technology that can upload the consciousness of a deceased loved one to a computer. Of course, this raised concerns about the ethics of putting words into someone’s mouth after death. Critics also worry that portraits of both living and dead people could be used for fraud and other illicit purposes. In September, Hollywood icon Tom Hanks posted an advisory on Instagram warning his followers about a commercial that used an AI-generated version of himself to promote a dental plan.
Source: nypost.com
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