Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company, recently reported that commercial AI voices are generated, including using ElevenLabs’ tech to produce AI voices. These AI voiceovers dub Russian influence operations to promote fake and misleading news.
AI Voiceovers in Russian Influence Operation
It is not new that AI is being used to create fake academic papers and duplicate artists’ work. Recorded Future highlighted a campaign, a Russian Influence Operation, “Undercut Operation,” that used AI voiceovers.
AI voices are generated by commercial AI voice generation products and tech; the most likely tech used includes ElevenLabs’ tech to produce human-like voices to make their campaign’s theme sound more authentic. The idea of using AI voices was to spread fake and misleading news.
ElevenLab's AI Voice Tech Likely Used in Russian Campaign
ElevenLabs is a startup company specializing in making AI tools for audio applications and generating synthetic AI voices. According to a recent report by Massachusetts-based threat intelligence company Recorded Future, Russian campaigns use ElevenLabs’ AI voice generation tech.
The report was verified when the researchers from Recorded Future tested the video clips of Russian Campaigns. They examined the voices in the videos using ElevenLabs’ own AI Speech Classifier, which confirmed that the voiceovers are generated by the AI tools of ElevenLab
AI Voices Lack Human Accents but Generated in Multiple Languages
With an AI Speech Classifier, the researchers diagnosed that the AI voiceovers used in the campaign videos lacked Russian human accents. The voices were way more professional and neutral.
In addition, these AI voices had multiple European language accents like English, German, French, Polish, and Turkish. It was inferred that the use of AI voiceover pointed to sound European which helped the campaign to reach wider European audience.
Motive of Russian Campaign to Weaken Ukraine Support
It is believed that the Social Design Agency, a Russia-based Group, ran the “Operation Undercut” campaign. This campaign aimed to make Ukraine believe that Europe no longer supports them. It generated and used AI voiceovers to spread fake news.
The campaign targeted European audiences and attacked Ukrainian politicians, initiating propaganda of misleading news about military aid to Ukraine. With AI-generated voices, the fake videos sow doubt about the reinforcements of weapons like the American Abrams tanks in Ukraine.
The Russian agency operated over 60 fake news websites that spread misinformation to influence European public opinion. The U.S. government showed against and sanctioned the agency. Despite the campaign's efforts, Recorded Future found minimal impact on public opinion in Europe.
Previous Misuse of ElevenLabs' Technology
This isn’t the first time ElevenLabs' voice tech has been misused. In January 2024, AI voices created using ElevenLabs’ technology were reportedly used in a robocall impersonating President Joe Biden. These voices aimed and tried to discourage people from voting.
ElevenLabs' Growth and Future Safety Measures
ElevenLabs’ is a newly found company growing rapidly with its current revenue rising at a high rate despite all the issues. The company has responded to these misuses by adding safety measures. These measures block and ban illegitimate and deceptive impersonation by employing automated human moderation.