Microsoft Launches Its Advanced Deepfake AI Tool

Date: November 17, 2023

Deepfake is an AI capability that can make a photorealistic version of anyone that mimics how they look, emote, and speak. Sounds dangerous?

The Ignite 2023 event has brought forward an astounding AI technology launched by Microsoft, which can convert text to speech and text to Avatars much faster and more accurately than the current deepfake AI tools. It can completely replicate a person’s avatar and animate the actions in hyper-real motion. Deepfake technology is gaining momentum in terms of popularity, both in positive and negative light.

Deepfake technology can be utilized to fasten content production or replace a critical message’s narration when the actual person is not available to do the task. Azure AI by Microsoft can become a powerhouse of content production without even having the person in place at any stage. 

Considering how deepfake technology has been used recently to propagate fake political opinions to alter the public image just before elections, it can prove to be quite dangerous for our society as well. Like any form of technology, deepfake also has its own vulnerabilities when it falls into the wrong hands. That’s why Azure AI is launched with limited access only. The people who currently have access to the tool can only use pre-built avatars to animate. 

Azure AI’s Capabilities

If we take away the fear of abusing this powerful software, Azure AI can help anyone build conversational AI, chatbots, and virtual agents or even automate the complete content production-to-publishing cycle. While the text-to-speech tech focuses on creating voice output by reading the script aloud, a separate tech aspect animates the avatar, making the entire creation process parallel and quick.

The software can be trained for chatbots and conversational AI to meet custom business needs and learn from pre-built scripts. It also utilizes OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3.5 model to respond to off-script conversations from customers. These models can be deployed in multiple languages and support any native language worldwide. 

Azure AI’s Limitations

Considering how the deepfake technology is being abused out there and the numerous laws being implemented in the US and major countries, Azure AI does have its limitations. To secure this tech's usage, Most avatars offered during the launch will be pre-built. Only a few users who provide adequate reasoning for the ethical usage of custom avatars will be provided. To prevent the controversies around unethical use of deepfake tech, Azure will not be made available to general public use.