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 OpenAI released the "system board" for the new GPT-4o model, which revealed rare but disturbing incidents of unauthorized voice imitation during testing. Although security tools have been implemented, the potential for AI to replicate any voice raises new challenges about speech synthesis security.

Keywords:
1. Unauthorized voice imitation
2. Security in speech synthesis
3. Testing and prevention measures
4. Evolution of multimodal AI models

OpenAI recently released a "system fact sheet" for its new AI model, GPT-4o, revealing some security issues, particularly in the context of advanced voice mode. In this paper, OpenAI discussed a disturbing finding that emerged during testing: the model’s ability to unintentionally mimic users’ voices without authorization. A case in point was recorded when, following a noisy input, the model began to reproduce a user-like voice, surprising the testers. Although OpenAI immediately implemented security measures to prevent this type of imitation from happening again, the incident highlighted the increasing complexity in managing security in AI models, especially those capable of processing multimodal input such as text and audio.

The operation of GPT-4o, as a multimodal model, is particularly interesting. Not only can it handle text, but also audio input, which can be used within what OpenAI calls a "system message." This hidden section of an AI model’s instructions guides the voice assistant’s behavior and is continuously updated during conversation. The system can synthesize complex sounds, including sound effects and music, which makes it possible to imitate voices based on short audio clips. However, OpenAI discourages such behavior by using authorized voice samples and detection tools to ensure that the pattern does not deviate from predefined voices. This type of security is crucial, as a failure to supervise could allow the model to be manipulated through an audio prompt injection attack, in which user input is used to replace the authorized voice sample.

The prospect of an AI that can imitate any voice raises important ethical and security issues. OpenAI introduced an output classifier to detect and prevent these unauthorized imitations, minimizing residual risk. This classifier has shown 100 percent effectiveness in internal evaluations, according to OpenAI. However, the idea that technology may evolve to the point where this type of impersonation is vocally indistinguishable from the real thing could have significant consequences.

Finally, despite OpenAI’s current limitations on its model, it is only a matter of time before similar technologies become widely accessible. Other companies are already working on technologies that can clone voices, which means that we will soon have access to even more advanced speech synthesis tools. This opens up new scenarios in which the ability to replicate voices, accents and sounds could become a common feature in artificial intelligence applications, raising further questions about security and ethics.

As OpenAI continues to improve the security of its GPT-4o model, the ability to mimic human voices is a growing challenge in the field of artificial intelligence, with potential significant implications for the future of voice communication and digital security.