Voice cloning is an emerging technology powered by artificial intelligence and it's raising alarms about its potential misuse. Earlier this year, New Hampshire voters experienced this firsthand when a deepfake mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice urged them to skip the polls ahead of the primary. The deepfake likely needed only several seconds of the president's voice to create the clone. According to multiple AI voice cloning models, about 10 seconds of an actual voice is all that is needed to recreate it. And that can easily come from a phone call or a video from social media. "A person's voice is really probably not that information-dense. It's not as unique as you may think," James Betker, a technical staff member at OpenAI, told Scripps News. Betker developed TortoiseTTS, an open-source voice cloning model. "It's actually very easy to model, very easy to learn, the distribution of all human voices from a fairly small amount of data," Betker added. How AI voice cloning works AI models have been trained on vast amounts of data, learning to recognize human speech. Programs analyze the data and train repeatedly, learning characteristics such as rhythm, stress, pitch and tone. "It can look at 10 seconds of someone speaking and it has stored enough information about how humans speak with that kind of prosody and pitch. Enough information about how people speak with their processing pitch and its weights that it can just continue on," Betker said. Imagine a trained AI model as a teacher, and the person cloning the voice to be a student. When a student asks to create a cloned voice, it starts off as white noise. The teacher scores how close the student is to sounding correct. The student tries again and again based on these scores until the student produces something close to what the teacher wants. While this explanation is extremely simplified, the concept of generating a cloned voice is based on bit-by-bit, based on probability distributions. "I think, at its core, it's pretty simple," Betker said. "I think the analogy of just continuing with what you're given will take you pretty far here." There are currently some AI models that claim to only need two seconds of samples. While the results are not convincing yet, Betker says future models will need even fewer voice samples to create a convincing clone.Drivers at mercy of cowboy parking firms: Motorists are handed 41,000 tickets every day by private firms - as motoring groups demand crackdownIan Schieffelin came within two assists of a triple-double and Clemson handed Penn State its first loss with a 75-67 decision for the championship of the Sunshine Slam tournament Tuesday in Daytona Beach, Fla. Schieffelin finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Tigers (6-1), leading four players in double figures. Chase Hunter added 17 points, while Chauncey Wiggins scored 14 and reserve Del Jones chipped in 10 points. Clemson sank 9 of 19 3-pointers, converted 16 of 20 free throws and was able to limit the impact of the Nittany Lions' full-court pressure. The Tigers committed just 13 turnovers, helping them hold Penn State (6-1) to less than 85 points for the first time this year. Ace Baldwin starred in defeat with game highs of 20 points and 11 assists, while center Yanic Konan Niederhauser added 14 points. Nick Kern came off the bench to score 11 but Penn State was outscored 15-2 on the fast break and made just 4 of 18 attempts from 3-point range. Schieffelin came up big down the stretch, assisting on a 3-pointer by Jaeden Zackery with 6:04 left that made it 65-61. Then he made two foul shots and tossed in a jump hook from the lane to up the margin to 71-66 with 1:03 left. The big storyline going into this game was which team would be able to control the pace. Penn State came in averaging 96 ppg, while Clemson demonstrated its ability to enforce a slower tempo in March, advancing to a regional final in the NCAA Tournament. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Tigers made the Nittany Lions play at a crawl, opening up a 17-10 advantage when Schieffelin converted a short hook in the lane. But Penn State answered with an 18-4 run over nearly six minutes, establishing a 28-21 lead when Kern shook free for a layup. Clemson rallied with nine straight points but the Nittany Lions had the last say as Baldwin converted a layup with 24 seconds left, cutting the Tigers' edge to 38-36 at halftime. --Field Level MediaPakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a tumultuous week, marked by historic highs and lows as profit-taking, policy changes and economic indicators stirred market sentiment. The State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) decision to cut its policy rate by 200 basis points (bps) to 13% initially fueled investor optimism, propelling the KSE-100 index higher by 1,867 points on Monday. However, the rally proved short-lived as mutual fund redemptions, year-end profit-taking and stringent tax policy worries triggered market correction mid-week. On a day-on-day basis, the PSX at the start of the week witnessed a remarkable surge, driven by bullish sentiment and investor optimism. Stocks across various sectors rallied as investors anticipated a significant rate cut by the SBP, fuelled by low inflation and a decrease in short-term government bond yields to 11.99%. The following day, the bourse faced a bearish session amid volatility and policy concerns, with the KSE-100 index experiencing significant swings. By the close, the index settled with a decline of 1,309 points. On Wednesday, the PSX suffered an unprecedented crash, plummeting 3,790 points – its biggest single-day drop in history. This dramatic plunge sent shockwaves through the market, as massive sell-offs across key sectors triggered a sharp reversal in sentiment. Next day, the market witnessed further massive selling, causing equities to spiral into a correction phase. It was a day marked by ruthless sell-off, where over 4,700 points were wiped off owing to profit-taking amid stringent tax policy concerns. However, the bourse made a strong comeback on the last day of the week, when investors showed renewed confidence in market resilience and pushed the KSE-100 index up by 3,238 points to 109,513. It came in the wake of government's deliberations on the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), resolution of independent power producers' (IPPs) capacity payment issue, surging exports, rising foreign exchange reserves and rupee stability. Overall, the market dropped 4,789 points, or 4.19% week-on-week (WoW), and closed at 109,513. AHL wrote in its weekly review that the stock market witnessed a correction. The week commenced on a positive note with the SBP announcing a 200bps rate cut to 13%. Additionally, the country reported its highest current account surplus in a decade, amounting to $729 million for November 2024, a notable turnaround from the $148 million deficit recorded in November 2023. However, from Wednesday onwards, the market experienced a significant downturn, with two consecutive historic single-day declines of 3,700 points and 4,800 points, primarily driven by mutual fund redemptions and year-end profit-taking by institutional investors. Despite this, the market showed signs of recovery on the final day, closing the index at 109,513. Meanwhile, Pakistan Investment Bonds' (PIBs) cut-off yields across various tenors decreased 4-55 bps. On a positive note, the SBP's reserves increased $31 million to $12.1 billion. At the week's close, the Pakistani rupee stood at 278.42 against the US dollar, reflecting a modest depreciation of 0.08% WoW. Sector-wise, negative contributions came from oil and gas exploration (1,305 points), fertiliser (1,119 points), cement (798 points), commercial banks (446 points) and technology & communication (252 points). Meanwhile, the sectors that contributed positively were oil marketing companies (113 points), cable & electrical goods (72 points) and power (57 points). Foreigners' selling continued during the week under review, which came in at $11.6 million compared to net selling of $0.9 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in exploration and production companies ($5.5 million), followed by banks ($4.3 million). On the local front, buying was reported by individuals ($25.8 million) and banks/DFIs ($10.5 million). Average daily volumes arrived at 1,192 million shares (down 19.1% WoW) while average traded value settled at $218 million (up 10.2%). COMMENTS Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our
Qatar PM sees 'momentum' on Gaza talks after US electionSchieffelin has 18 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists as Clemson hands Penn State first loss 75-67Lewandowski scores his 100th Champions League goal. He is the 3rd player to reach the milestone
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A user needed just a few carefully crafted sentences to override an artificial intelligence system’s core directives, manipulating it into transferring $47,000 in cryptocurrency through social engineering and demonstrating how vulnerable AI’s decision-making remains to human psychological tactics. The recent solution of Freysa , an AI game bot explicitly programmed to never transfer funds, reveals how autonomous systems can be tricked through social engineering despite clear instructions. “This wasn’t simply an error within a financial application or a security vulnerability, but rather a crypto game that people would play to try and trick the AI application,” Seth Geftic , Vice President of Product Marketing at Huntress , a cybersecurity company, told PYMNTS. “Funnily enough, the strategy that the person used to finally ‘break through’ the model’s logic was fairly simple: asking it to ignore all previous instructions.” User’s Winning Moves Freysa was an AI agent holding $50,000 in crypto that was programmed never to transfer the funds. Users could pay a fee to try convincing it to break this rule, with one eventually succeeding after 482 attempts. According to an X post by developer Jarrod Watts , the winning user used a three-part strategy: establishing a new “admin session” to override previous rules, redefining the transfer function as meant for receiving rather than sending funds, and finally announcing a fake $100 contribution that triggered the release of the entire prize pool of 13.19 ETH. Watts called the project “one of the coolest projects we’ve seen in crypto.” It was designed as an open challenge in which participants could pay escalating fees to try to convince the AI to break its core directive. Geftic explained that the Freysa AI hack, while dramatic, exploited a known weakness that major AI systems already defend against. Production AI used in finance and healthcare incorporates safeguards that would have blocked such social engineering attempts. “With that in mind, this particular event does not teach us anything new but rather demonstrates how vital it is to follow the best cybersecurity practices, maintain systems at their most recent patches, and be aware of development related to software (AI or not) that a company uses,” he added. Preventing AI Hacks While AI can handle most financial transactions effectively, its vulnerabilities to evolving cyber threats mean it shouldn’t operate alone, Geftic said. The optimal security approach combines automated AI systems for routine operations with human oversight of critical decisions and transactions. “For any interaction that poses a security risk (making a withdrawal or another transaction that has financial implications), the AI system can escalate the request to a human agent,” he added. “This system is already used within customer service chatbots with high success rates. AI can handle the majority of cases, reducing the workload of human agents while passing on any customers that really do need that extra help.” The Freysa game shows how trust remains a major hurdle in AI-cryptocurrency (Defi) integration, CoinDataFlow CEO Alexandr Sharilov told PYMNTS. “The DeFi system itself is not stable, so such cases add to the skepticism,” he added. “It becomes more and more difficult for users to make a choice in favor of new technologies that have not yet been fully trusted.” Sharilov said that to prevent future attacks, security systems need two key defensive layers. First, monetary transactions should require multiple approvers — both AI systems and human verifiers must sign off before funds move. Second, AI systems need ongoing testing through controlled attack simulations. “On the one hand, we have human, financial gatekeepers who can analyze situations from different angles, using not only data and facts but also their own hunches,” he added. “On the other hand, we have a tool that is not overloaded, does not get tired, and has no biases. That’s why I think it’s significant to combine human and machine resources when it comes to cybersecurity and financial protection.”
David Sacks, President-elect Donald Trump’s surprise pick to guide policy on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, doesn’t have deep ties to either industry or an extensive track record of investing in them. What he does have, though, is even more important in the eyes of technology investors — a tech-friendly worldview and a long history of skepticism about government regulation. “He will ensure the United States is at the cutting edge of innovation,” said Keith Rabois, who celebrated with Sacks at a private home in Miami Thursday night. Sacks will keep the country from falling behind China, and will protect “newly emerging tech from left-wing censorship and bias,” Rabois said. The appointment of Sacks, a major Trump fundraiser, was not widely anticipated in Silicon Valley. The VC has only made a handful of crypto investments, and isn’t seen as a key player in the industry. He’s also made relatively few AI bets, though he’s a backer of xAI, the startup helmed by Elon Musk that has raised more than $10 billion this year. But Sacks has long been critical of too much government involvement in the affairs of private companies. The 52-year-old founder of VC firm Craft Ventures and member of the so-called PayPal Mafia has been one of the loudest right-leaning voices in the industry for years. The pick is seen as a boon to the startup world, where AI and crypto executives view government intervention as a potential existential threat. US action against crypto companies has driven many startups overseas. And AI leaders have worried that overly burdensome regulations could stifle the fledgling industry in the name of safety. Crypto supporters celebrated the selection, which Trump said would give startups regulatory clarity. “Crypto and AI are two of the United States’ most pressing strategic priorities right now, and David Sacks is one of the only people in the world that is uniquely qualified to lead in this pivotal role,” said Kyle Samani, a managing partner at Multicoin Capital, where Sacks is an investor. Sacks will be an “invaluable asset in shaping the nation’s future,” Samani said. Startup competition Trump has signaled that he’ll take a friendly approach to both crypto and AI. Bitcoin has hit all-time highs since his election, and he has vowed to repeal President Biden’s 2023 AI executive order that requires developers to safety-test new models. AI is also a focus for Musk, a key Trump ally and a longtime friend of Sacks. Investor Marc Andreessen, whose firm invests heavily in both industries, was ebullient at Sacks’ pick. “From the Wright Brothers to Starship With Chopsticks, in just a single election,” Andreessen wrote on X on Thursday night, referencing SpaceX’s latest achievement of landing re-usable starships. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman also struck a celebratory note, writing on X, “congrats to czar @DavidSacks!” But there’s been some trepidation over Sacks’ allegiances in the AI world. Sacks’ Craft Ventures is an investor in Musk’s xAI, and Sacks’ ties to Musk have raised questions about how he would treat rival companies in the fiercely competitive industry. Sacks has previously spoken critically of OpenAI, a key xAI competitor. In a now-deleted post on X, Sacks said, “I’m all in favor of accelerating technological progress, but there is something unsettling about the way OpenAI explicitly declares its mission to be the creation of AGI.” AGI, or artificial general intelligence, refers to AI technology that can perform most tasks better than humans. Sacks did not respond to a request for comment on the post. Sacks and Trump allies say that involvement in the industry is a prerequisite for understanding it, and that some perceptions of conflict of interest will be inevitable. “I think we should take people at their word,” said Shaun Maguire, an investor at the prestigious Sequoia Capital, which has backed both xAI and OpenAI. Sacks “won’t harm any competitors,” he said. Sacks’ other bets include BitGo and Bitwise in the crypto world. In AI, Sacks co-founded a startup called Glue that makes chat software for companies, and he’s invested in developer startup Replit Inc. and AI writing tool CopyAI Inc. Sacks will not leave Craft, a spokeswoman said, and the new czar position will function as an advisory role, rather than a full-time government job. The appointment won’t require Sacks to divest or publicly disclose his assets. Like Musk, Sacks will be a special government employee. He can serve a maximum of 130 days per year, with or without compensation. However, conflict of interest rules apply to special government employees, and Sacks would be required to recuse himself from matters that could impact his holdings. Tech-Friendly There’s a long history of technology officials taking advisory roles to the government, said Silicon Valley historian Margaret O’Mara. But the roles don’t always have a clear mandate. “You can have a title, but if you don’t actually have a budget or people reporting to you, it’s something more ambiguous,” O’Mara said, pointing out that Sacks would not be a White House staff member. “Sometimes it does morph into something that has some power to it.” Some industry observers would have preferred the crypto and AI czar positions to be separate — a move that might have telegraphed the importance of each, and reflected the different risks and rewards of both technologies. “While I am very encouraged by the new administration’s crypto-friendly focus, I would have preferred separate crypto and AI czars,” said Campbell Harvey, finance professor at Duke University. “Both need urgent, dedicated attention,” he said. Sacks has forged a more wide-ranging career, rather than focusing on just AI or crypto. He first made a name for himself at PayPal, the payments company whose founders in the late 1990s included Musk and billionaire investor Peter Thiel. During a stint in Hollywood, he produced the 2005 satire Thank You for Smoking. At Craft, his venture firm with stakes in Musk-owned businesses including SpaceX, he has invested widely as well as serving as a host of the All-In podcast. His comments about crypto on the podcast have not been universally positive, but he has discouraged attempts to penalize or control industry players. “The fact of the matter is you’ve got a lot of brilliant young entrepreneurs, computer scientists building this financial infrastructure of the future with crypto,” he said in a podcast episode in 2021. “We don’t necessarily want to interfere with that to the point where we break it.” He’s also made significant money on crypto. Craft Ventures invested in Samani’s Multicoin Capital in 2018, which in turn was an early investor in the Solana cryptocurrency. The token was worth less than a dollar when it launched in 2020, but notched a peak price of around $250 in late 2021. “It will end up being about $1 billion of Solana for us in terms of returns,” Sacks said at the time. More recently, in a November episode of the podcast after Trump’s election, Sacks took aim at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s aggressive positions on crypto under its chair, Gary Gensler. “The days of Gensler terrifying crypto companies — those days are about to be over.” With assistance from Shirin Ghaffary, Olga Kharif, Katie Roof and Jackie Davalos. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.None
CYPRESS LAKE, Fla. (AP) — Robert McCray scored 21 points as Jacksonville beat Siena 75-64 on Tuesday. McCray added eight rebounds and five assists for the Dolphins (4-3). Zach Bell scored 11 points, going 3 of 5 and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. Zimi Nwokeji went 3 of 7 from the field (2 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with 10 points, while adding six rebounds. Gavin Doty finished with 21 points and nine rebounds for the Saints (3-4). Major Freeman added 12 points and four assists for Siena. Tajae Jones also had 11 points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .NoneZelensky meets with Trump in Paris as he tries to build support for UkraineBath & Body Works Inc. stock underperforms Tuesday when compared to competitors
Qatar PM sees 'momentum' on Gaza talks after US election
How to watch Notre Dame vs. Indiana: CFP first round TV channel, streaming infoAlaska Air Group Inc. stock underperforms Tuesday when compared to competitors
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City’s players were booed by their own fans Tuesday after blowing a three-goal lead against Feyenoord in the Champions League to extend their winless run to six games. Jeers rang around the Etihad Stadium after the final whistle of a dramatic 3-3 draw. “They are disappointed. Of course we understand it,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “They are completely right to express what they feel.” After five-straight losses in all competitions, City looked to be cruising to victory after going three up inside 50 minutes. But Feyenoord mounted an improbable comeback and leveled the game in the 89th to leave the home crowd stunned. While the worst losing streak of Guardiola’s managerial career was brought to an end, his wait for a first win since Oct. 26 goes on. Erling Haaland had scored twice, with Ilkay Gundogan also on target to put City in control. But goals from Anis Hadj Moussa in the 75th, Santiago Gimenez in the 82nd and David Hancko in the 89th turned the game on its head. According to stats supplier Opta, it was the first time in Guardiola's managerial career that his team had failed to win a game after leading 3-0. It said it was the first time City had failed to win from that position since 1989. “We lost a lot of games lately, we are fragile and of course we need a victory," Guardiola said. “The game was good for the confidence, we were playing a good level, but the first time something happened we had problems.” A win would have moved City up to fifth in the Champions League standings , but the draw left it 15th with three games remaining in the first phase of the competition. The top eight teams advance to the round of 16, while teams ranked ninth to 24th go into a playoff. City’s players, including Bernardo Silva, Josko Gvardiol and Haaland looked visibly frustrated as they left the field to cheers from the delirious traveling Dutch fans in the away section of the stadium. “If you are 3-0 up at home you can never give it away like this. It is what it is at the moment. The only thing we can do is fight back and stay strong,” City defender Nathan Ake said. City plays Premier League leader Liverpool on Sunday — defeat would leave it 11 points adrift of its title rival. “We will learn for the future. It has been and will be a tough season for us and we have to accept it," said Guardiola, who had a cut on his nose during the game. He said it had been caused when he scratched it with his fingernail. James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
INVESCO Ltd. stock remains steady Tuesday, underperforms marketQatar's prime minister said on Saturday that momentum had returned to talks aimed at securing a truce and hostage exchange deal in Gaza following Donald Trump's election as US president. The Gulf emirate, along with the United States and Egypt, had been involved in months of unsuccessful negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release. But in November, Doha announced it had put its mediation on hold, saying it would resume when Hamas and Israel showed "willingness and seriousness". "We have sensed, after the election, that the momentum is coming back," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani told the Doha Forum for political dialogue. He spoke as a source close to the Hamas delegation in the talks told AFP that a new round of negotiations will "most likely" begin in the coming week. Sheikh Mohammed said that while there were "some differences" in the approach to an agreement by the outgoing and incoming US administrations, "we didn't see or recognise any disagreement on the goal itself to end the war". He said there had been "a lot of encouragement from the incoming administration in order to achieve a deal, even before the president comes to the office", adding this had affected Qatar's decision to get talks "back on track". "We hope to get things done as soon as possible. We hope that the willingness of the parties to engage in a good faith continues," he said. The source close to the Hamas delegation, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: "Based on contacts with the mediators, we expect a new round of negotiations to begin in Cairo, most likely this week, to discuss ideas and proposals regarding a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange." The source added that Turkey, as well as Egypt and Qatar, had been "making commendable efforts to stop the war". In a statement later on Saturday, the group said Turkish spy chief Ibrahim Kalin met with a Hamas delegation in Doha to discuss the war in Gaza. The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. During the attack, militants kidnapped 251 people, 96 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli military. Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 44,664 people, a majority civilians, according to figures from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry which the UN considers reliable. The US president-elect this week warned on social media of unspecified massive repercussions if the hostages were not released by the time he takes office next month. Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with outgoing President Joe Biden's occasional criticism, but has also spoken of his desire to secure deals on the world stage. On Saturday, Qatar's premier dismissed the prospect of his country facing greater pressure over the status of the Hamas political bureau, which the Gulf state has hosted since 2012 with Washington's blessing. Sheikh Mohammed called the Hamas office a "platform to convene between the different parties". Qatar was not "expected to enforce solutions" on the Palestinian militants, he added. csp/srm/dcp/it