Meta (formerly Facebook) is introducing its first artificial intelligence offering since the AI generator industry exploded in late 2022.
The brand’s text-to-audio generator, called Voicebox is expected to be the voice equivalent of ChatGPT, which processes text prompts into detailed written results, and Dall-E which develops realistic artwork. Voicebox in turn will be able to take text prompts and produce audio clips, according to Engadget.
Having trained the new generator on over “50,000 hours of unfiltered audio,” including public domain speech and transcripts in English, French, Spanish, German, Polish, and Portuguese. Voicebox is prepared to develop results in conversational-sounding speech in a variety of available languages. Meta also claims its model has a one percent error rate degradation, in comparison to other models.
According to Meta researchers, the model was trained by having it predict blocks of speech within a transcript instead of having to develop a body of work from scratch. The tool also has the ability to edit audio clips for unwanted noise or misspoken words, in a similar fashion to editing software for still images, such as Adobe Photoshop.
Meta stated it doesn’t plan to release the Voicebox app or source code to the public currently due to “the potential risks of misuse.” This is understandable as recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a warning about the increasing use of deep fake content in crimes, including extortion, blackmail, and harassment.
The company has released audio samples with its research paper introducing the app. It also detailed potential future plans to aid “patients with vocal cord damage, in-game NPCs, and digital assistants.”
Meta is in an interesting position of trying to keep up with the current industry trends. Despite having several models of its Meta Quest VR headsets, it appears the company is no longer moving forward with its plans to develop its metaverse concept in favor of more AI innovation. Meanwhile, Apple recently introduced its first Vision Pro headset and is investing in virtual reality. Currently, Apple hasn’t showcased any major interest in AI.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.