Sask. Gov’t calls for federal restrictions on AI voice cloning

The Government of Saskatchewan is concerned about voice cloning using artificial intelligence, and is calling on Ottawa to follow the United States’ lead and restrict its use.

The province said AI technology is quickly evolving and changing, and the technology could pose risks to elections if it is misused.

“A specific area of concern is the use of AI-generated voices, which can be used to clone someone’s voice to misrepresent them,” the Ministry of Justice explained in a statement.

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“Saskatchewan is urging the federal government to take all appropriate steps to put protections in place in Canada to prevent the misuse of AI-generated voices and voice cloning.”

The United States Federal Communications Commission ruled that robocalls made using AI-generated voices were illegal back in February, and the provincial government wants the Trudeau Government to do the same thing in Canada.

Bronwyn Eyre, Saskatchewan’s justice minister and attorney general, said the emerging technology could have impacts on democratic institutions.

“This technology has significant potential to disrupt democratic processes such as elections,” Eyre said in a statement.

“Canadian citizens must have confidence that the proper controls are in place to protect them, and our democracy, from the misuse of emergent technologies such as AI and voice synthesis.”

The ministry added that the American authorities recently imposed a $6 million fine on a man who used AI to copy President Joe Biden’s voice and used it on robocalls.