Scientists have created an earpiece that gives you an actual chill if the person you’re speaking to is an AI impersonating a human.
The “anti-AI AI” is worn like a Bluetooth headset and uses a set of algorithms to warn you if the voice you’re listening to isn’t human. The algorithms are similar to the ones that allow a computer to sound like a human in the first place.
When the device detects synthesized vocal patterns, a small thermoelectric plate will alert you with a cold sensation on the back of your neck.
So you will literally feel a chill down your spine if the human you’re talking to is a robot.
DT, a research agency in Australia, created the technology as a proof-of-concept in just five days.
Beyond distinguishing AI from humans, the company emphasizes that the earpiece could help separate real and fake news.
“The post-truth era is just getting started,” the company wrote in a blog post. “The media, giant tech corporations and citizens already struggle to discern fact from fiction. And as this technology is democratized, it will be even more prevalent.”
To demonstrate how it works, DT included a video in the post that used the technology on a video of Donald Trump and an AI-generated voice that sounded like him. The device correctly identified the real Donald Trump as “human” and the recording as “robot.”
The company wrote that the device is a “work in progress,” and likely has a long way to go. Let’s hope it becomes available before we’re all tricked into servitude by an army of human-sounding AIs.