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15.ai is a non-commercial freeware artificial intelligence web application that generates natural emotive high-quality text-to-speech voices from an assortment of fictional characters from a variety of media sources. Developed by an anonymous MIT researcher under the eponymous pseudonym 15, the project uses a combination of audio synthesis algorithms, speech synthesis deep neural networks, and sentiment analysis models to generate and serve emotive character voices faster than real-time, even those with a very small amount of data.

Features

Available characters include GLaDOS and Wheatley from Portal, Twilight Sparkle and a number of main, secondary, and supporting characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, SpongeBob from SpongeBob SquarePants, Daria Morgendorffer and Jane Lane from Daria, the Tenth Doctor from Doctor Who, HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Narrator from The Stanley Parable, the Wii U/3DS/Switch Super Smash Bros. Announcer (formerly), Sans from Undertale, and Carl Brutananadilewski from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

The deep learning model used by the application is nondeterministic. The application supports English phonetic transcriptions (such as ARPABET) to correct mispronunciations or to account for heteronyms – words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently (such as the word read, which can be pronounced as either /ˈrɛd/ or /ˈriːd/ depending on its tense). The app also supports altering the emotion of a generated line using emotional contextualizers (a term coined by this project), a sentence or phrase that conveys the emotion of the take that serves as a guide for the model during inference.

The lexicon used by 15.ai was scraped from a variety of Internet sources, including Oxford Dictionaries, Wiktionary, the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, 4chan, Reddit, and Twitter. Pronunciations of unfamiliar words are automatically deduced using phonological rules learned by the deep learning model.

Development

15.ai was designed and created by an anonymous research scientist affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology known by the alias 15, ostensibly in reference to the minimum amount of data required to convincingly clone a voice. The project began development while the developer was an undergraduate. Although the application costs several thousands of dollars a month to keep up and maintain, the developer has stated that they are capable of paying the high cost of running the site out of pocket.

The developer has also worked closely with the Pony Preservation Project from /mlp/, the My Little Pony board of 4chan. The Pony Preservation Project is a "collaborative effort by /mlp/ to build and curate pony datasets" with the aim of creating applications in artificial intelligence. According to the developer, the collective efforts and constructive criticism of the Pony Preservation Project was integral to the development of 15.ai. During months-long hiatuses of the public release of the site in late 2020 and early 2021, a number of test sites were put up for exclusive use by /mlp/ and the Pony Preservation Project for the purposes of testing and generating content.

Reception

Over 3 million lines were generated within the first two weeks of the September 2021 release of the application.

On January 14, 2022, it was discovered that Voiceverse NFT, a company that video game voice actor Troy Baker announced his partnership with, had stolen voice lines generated from 15.ai as part of their marketing campaign without permission. The initial partnership between Troy Baker and Voiceverse was met with severe backlash and universally negative reception. Two weeks later, on January 31, Baker announced that he would discontinue his partnership with Voiceverse.

See also

• Speech synthesis
• Deepfake
• Virtual actor
• 4chan
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom

References

1. ^ "15.ai - FAQ". 15.ai. 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
2. "Twitter". Twitter. 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
3. Zwiezen, Zack (2021-01-18). "Website Lets You Make GLaDOS Say Whatever You Want". Kotaku. Kotaku. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
4. Ruppert, Liana (2021-01-18). "Make Portal's GLaDOS And Other Beloved Characters Say The Weirdest Things With This App". Game Informer. Game Informer. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
5. Morton, Lauren (2021-01-18). "Put words in game characters' mouths with this fascinating text to speech tool". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
6. Clayton, Natalie (2021-01-19). "Make the cast of TF2 recite old memes with this AI text-to-speech tool". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
7. Chandraseta, Rionaldi (2021-01-19). "Generate Your Favourite Characters' Voice Lines using Machine Learning". Toward Data Science. Toward Data Science. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
8. Yoshiyuki, Furushima (2021-01-18). "『Portal』のGLaDOSや『UNDERTALE』のサンズがテキストを読み上げてくれる。文章に込められた感情まで再現することを目指すサービス「15.ai」が話題に". Denfaminicogamer. Denfaminicogamer. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
9. Kurosawa, Yuki (2021-01-19). "ゲームキャラ音声読み上げソフト「15.ai」公開中。『Undertale』や『Portal』のキャラに好きなセリフを言ってもらえる". AUTOMATON. AUTOMATON. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
10. Villalobos, José (2021-01-18). "Descubre 15.AI, un sitio web en el que podrás hacer que GlaDOS diga lo que quieras". LaPS4. LaPS4. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
11. Moto, Eugenio (2021-01-20). "Descubre 15.AI, un sitio web en el que podrás hacer que GlaDOS diga lo que quieras". Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
12. "15.ai - Guide". 15.ai. 2022-02-20. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
13. "15.ai - About". 15.ai. 2022-02-20. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
14. "Twitter". Twitter. 2021-11-29. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
15. "Pony Preservation Project (Thread 108)". 4chan. Desuarchive. 2022-02-20. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
16. "15.ai - Thanks". 15.ai. 2022-02-20. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
17. Phillips, Tom (2022-01-17). "Troy Baker-backed NFT firm admits using voice lines taken from another service without permission". Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
18. Williams, Demi (2022-01-18). "Voiceverse NFT admits to taking voice lines from non-commercial service". NME. NME. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
19. Wright, Steve (2022-01-17). "Troy Baker-backed NFT company admits to using content without permission". Stevivor. Stevivor. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
20. Henry, Joseph (2022-01-18). "Troy Baker's Partner NFT Company Voiceverse Reportedly Steals Voice Lines From 15.ai". Tech Times. Tech Times. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
21. Yea, Yong (2022-01-14). "Troy Baker Faces Mass Backlash For Supporting Shady AI Voice NFTs With Company That Has Stolen Work". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
22. Phillips, Tom (2022-01-14). "Video game voice actor Troy Baker is now promoting NFTs". Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
23. Strickland, Derek (2022-01-31). "Last of Us actor Troy Baker heeds fans, abandons NFT plans". Tweaktown. Tweaktown. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
24. Peterson, Danny (2022-01-31). "'The Last of Us' actor Troy Baker reverses course on NFTs amid fan backlash". We Got This Covered. We Got This Covered. Retrieved 2022-02-14.

• Artificial intelligence applications
• Speech synthesis
• Artificial intelligence