A new artificial intelligence program has been developed that can mimic flirty speech patterns, thanks to new ‘non-word sounds’ including sighs and breaths.
Sonantic, based in London, England, produces expressive artificial intelligence voices for a range of uses, including Hollywood movies and computer games.
The latest development was built with an ‘unnamed Hollywood client’ called ‘What’s Her Secret?’, designed to create a flirty female lead character ‘that has never lived’.
They released a video, with the face of an actress but voice of AI, designed to demonstrate it is possible to create ‘hyper-realistic romantic encounters.’
In developing the flirty AI, the team also discovered some secrets that humans can use to sound more romantic and flirty, including slowing down to create suspense, gently smiling when speaking, and keeping a sooth, consistent pace.
In developing the flirty ai, the team also discovered some secrets that humans can use to sound more romantic and flirty, including slowing down to create suspense, gently smiling when speaking, and keeping a sooth, consistent pace
The voice models generated by Sonantic can already express happiness and sadness, but flirty required a subtle approach, not possible with simple language.
As well as being flirty, the team have developed coy and teasing ‘styles’ of speech, to give non-playable characters in movies a much more realistic feel.
While the new video features a real actress, the voice over is completely artificially generated – with the AI voice reading a monologue about love.
It stars by leading you to believe the actress featured in the video is also reading the voiceover, but reveals ‘what you are hearing me say was never said by a human, it was generated by a computer. I am not real, I was never born.’
It was timed to come out on Valentines Day, showing how realistic AI can get at mimicking human speech patterns, something Sonantic calls the ‘CGI of Audio’.
They’ve managed to achieve realistic ‘flirty audio’ thanks to non-verbal sounds, such as laughter, breathing, crying and scoffing.
The voice models generated by Sonantic can already express happiness and sadness, but flirty required a subtle approach, not possible with simple language
Sonantic, based in London, England, produces expressive artificial intelligence voices for a range of uses, including Hollywood movies and computer games
‘Human beings are incredibly complex by nature and our voices play a critical role in helping us connect with the world around us, said Sonantic CEO Zeena Qureshi.
‘At Sonantic, we are committed to capturing the nuances of the human voice, and we’re incredibly proud of these technological breakthroughs that we have brought to life through ‘What’s Her Secret?,” he explained in a statement.
‘From flirting and giggling to breathing and pausing, this is the most realistic romantic demo we’ve created to date, helping us inch closer to our vision of being the CGI of Audio.’
Dr. Maggie Vaughan, a New York City-based psychotherapist who specializes in romantic relationships, said there are key elements in speech patterns, tone and pacing that make or break a flirtatious conversation.
Upon reviewing ‘What’s Her Secret?’ she said they were all featured, including focus on tempo, breathing, smiling and tone changes.
The firm last hit the headlines in August 2021, when they announced they’d given Val Kilmer is voice back, by reacting the Tom Gun actors speech using recordings from before he developed throat cancer.
Kilmer, whose career has spanned nearly four decades, has starred in blockbusters such as Top Gun, Willow, The Doors, Tombstone and Batman Forever.
But after undergoing a tracheotomy in 2014 as part of his treatment for throat cancer, Kilmer’s voice is now barely recognisable.
As well as being flirty, the team have developed coy and teasing ‘styles’ of speech, to give non-playable characters in movies a much more realistic feel
Luckily, Kilmer himself is also able to use the AI tool in his personal life, to help him communicate, rather than relying on a voice box to speak.
Sonantic created a dashboard editor, that its customers – mainly in the world of film and gaming – can use to assign voices to characters.
It lets them change speech inflection, speed, volume and style – as well as dropping in non-verbal sounds to the script.
Sonantic aren’t the only player in the synthetic voice market, with a virtual version of a young Luke Skywalker appearing on The Mandalorian developed by Respeecher.
Other firms are merging fully automatically generated people, including William Shatner and Albert Einstein, mixed with versions of their voice to match the age of the artificial recreation, also synthesized.
