Jay-Z was dumbfounded when it came to his attention that there were audio clips on YouTube that sounded like the aging rapper reciting “To be, or not to be,” the opening line of a soliloquy from Shakespeare‘s play Hamlet.
The audio might have impressed the “Song Cry” rapper – if it was really was him reciting Shakespeare.
You’ve heard about the “deepfake” videos that alters photos and videos to look like celebrities or political figures. YouTube and Facebook are on a mission to take down all deep fake videos in the wild.
But, until now, deepfake audio wasn’t a problem.
The technology uses text-to-speech software to computer-generate Jay-Z’s speech patterns. Literally, someone typed the text of the soliloquy and used Jay-Z’s speech patterns to make the audio.
If that sounds scary to you, imagine how it sounds to Jay-Z. Imagine if that software fell into the wrong hands.
Think of how easily a blogger could fool Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, into believing he’s cheating on her with Megan Thee Stallion.
 
