Putting AI to the Test: How Apple’s Voice-Generating Technology Mimics Your Unique Voice

In the first beta of iOS 17, Apple has introduced a feature called “Personal Voice.” It’s a significant advancement in the field of artificial intelligence that allows us to create a replica of our own voice to use on our iPhone or iPad. The ability to create a personalized voice is particularly valuable for individuals who have certain conditions that may affect their ability to speak. However, this feature can be useful for everyone. Our voice evolves over time, and being able to preserve our speech at a specific moment in time is quite fascinating.

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A synthetic voice that perfectly reproduces our own voice

Traditionally, training an artificial intelligence to sound like us would take several weeks and be quite expensive. Now, with Personal Voice, we can save our voice in just one hour. For the process itself, the system needs a total of 15 minutes of speech, although Apple indicates that it may take around an hour to complete the entire process. Importantly, the process can be done in blocks, allowing us to pause the recording, save the progress, and continue at our convenience.

To test this feature, here are the steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Go to Accessibility.
3. Tap on Personal Voice.
4. Tap on Create Personal Voice.

The system advises us to record in a quiet room with no echo or background noise. We should speak naturally, at a consistent volume, and keep the iPhone or iPad about 15 centimeters away from our mouth.

After naming the voice we are creating, we tap on “Continue,” and after a brief sound test, we can tap on “Continue” to start the process. After each phrase, which currently appears in English, we can tap the recording button to stop and go back. We’ll see an indicator with the remaining time to complete the recording, and we can resume it whenever we want.

Once we have created the Personal Voice, we can test it using the real-time Voice feature, which allows us to use that voice to speak through text in FaceTime, Phone, and third-party apps that support assisted communication. The system will simply speak, using our own voice, the text that we type. If needed, we can configure the system to activate this feature with a triple click of the side button in Settings > Accessibility > Quick Functions.

The voices created on one device can be shared with other devices through iCloud. This sharing process is completely encrypted and secure, ensuring that the trained speech generation model never leaves the security of our devices unprotected. Additionally, we have the option to grant permission to third-party apps to request the use of these voices. In such cases, we can choose to accept or reject the request based on our preference.

While this feature is primarily intended for accessibility purposes, designed to help those who need to retain their voice, it undeniably captures attention. It’s intriguing to test and witness how an iPhone can now speak with our own voice. It also highlights the remarkable progress Apple has made in artificial intelligence over the years, which can sometimes go unnoticed. Additionally, it offers a playful element of novelty.

Nevertheless, this is just one of several accessibility enhancements introduced in Apple’s new operating systems. Alongside improvements in mental health care, such as mood tracking and monitoring, and vision care, these small details cumulatively make iOS 17 an even better system overall.

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