If I get through a meeting without saying a word, I consider it a great success.
Unfortunately, there are times when I can no longer stay under the radar. The microphone must be unmuted, the camera might have to go on, and all the attention is on me.
At least, that was the case until this week.
Thanks to a new iPhone feature that lets anyone clone their voice with no technical chops and little time required, meeting anxiety temporarily became a thing of the past.
Announced back in May and now available as part of the public beta for iOS 17, the next major software update for Apple‘s smartphone due out in September, the “personal voice” tool lets my voice read aloud any text whatsoever without needing to speak for myself.
How does it work?
The feature lives in the accessibility section of the iPhone’s settings app, under the speech heading.
To make your own on-demand digital voice, your handset tasks you with reading aloud 150 pretty random phrases, which takes about 15 or 20 minutes depending on your patience.
Image: Personal voice is an accessibility setting designed for people who are losing the ability to speak
“A German-born author won the prize for writing”, “during the Middle Ages in Europe, people bathed less often”, and “Ancient Greeks laid the foundation of Western culture” were some of the sentences I was given. I got some weird questions afterwards from people who could hear me in the next room.
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The phone needs plenty of time to process the voice as it’s all done on the device itself, rather than uploaded to powerful computers somewhere at Apple HQ.
It needs to be locked and kept on charge, so probably best you leave it to work overnight.
With the voice ready for action, you enable the “live speech” function in settings and pick your personal voice. Triple tapping the phone’s side button will open a text box, and anything you enter will be spoken aloud.
Image: It requires the user to speak aloud 150 random phrases
Is it convincing?
Without wanting to expose certain relatives’ lack of tech know-how, it very much depends.
Digital me checked with my sister about the status of Taylor Swift tickets in a WhatsApp voice message and she seemed none the wiser. My mum replied to a cinema invitation with no qualms at all, until I asked whether anything about the message had sounded off.
Tech-savvy friends and loved ones were more immediately suspicious.
“Who are you and what have you done with Tom?” asked one.
“It kind of sounded like you, but as if someone made a robot version,” said another. They had me bang to rights.
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As for meetings (undoubtedly my most ambitious attempt to replace myself), the longer the voice went on, the more colleagues realised I was up to some mischief.
But by and large, for something that takes just 15 minutes of work and a good sleep to set up, it’s impressive.
Like the rise of generative AI such as ChatGPT and the increasing realism of deep fake videos, it’s not just the power of such technology that has caught people’s attention, but the accessibility of it.
The digital news anchor that can read this article via the play button at the top of the page required a dedicated text-to-speech publishing company, a lengthy, professional recording session, and is constantly being tweaked to ensure she doesn’t trip up over certain words and phrases.
What I did is going to be available on everyone’s iPhone soon, with no such effort or expertise required.
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1:31
How Sky News created an AI reporter
Isn’t this just asking for fraud trouble?
Apple says it’s an accessibility feature, designed for people who struggle to speak or are losing the ability to.
The company has explained the randomised nature of the personal voice process, with it all done on-device, keeps users’ information private and secure.
The voice cannot be shared, can be deleted, and all 150 recorded phrases can be downloaded and backed up.
Computer security company McAfee has warned voice cloning technology in general is fuelling a rise in scams, but indicated Apple’s protections should be sufficient and are unlikely to contribute to the problem.
McAfee researcher Oliver Devane told Sky News: “If you were to use an online service and there was a data breach, your voice clips could potentially be stolen.
“It only being on the device and you being able to delete the files removes that risk.
“There are already services people can use if they want to use this technology for malicious purposes.”
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McAfee recently surveyed 1,009 adults in the UK – and found almost a quarter had either experienced or knew someone who’d experienced some kind of AI voice scam.
It also found 65% of adults are not confident they could identify a cloned version from the real thing.
It led to fake clips of Emma Watson reading Mein Kampf and Joe Biden announcing US troops will enter Ukraine.
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1:32
‘AI will threaten our democracy’
How can I identify a fake voice?
Regardless of how it was made, there are things you can do to protect yourself against a voice scam.
• Question the source – you could ask the person something only they would know to verify them.
• What sets them apart – is their accent or pace off? Have they lost their stutter? Listen out for key vocal traits.
• Call them back – if the voice sounds right, but the number doesn’t, call them back on their known number.
• Identify theft protection services – these notify you if your data is compromised and ends up on the dark web.
• A verbal codeword – a word or phrase to share with friends and family that you or they will say in the case of an emergency phone call, like when they’re not using their normal device.
Donald Trump’s trade war escalation has sparked a global sell-off, with US stock markets seeing the biggest declines in a hit to values estimated above $2trn.
Tech and retail shares were among those worst hit when Wall Street opened for business, following on from a flight from risk across both Asia and Europe earlier in the day.
Analysis by the investment platform AJ Bell put the value of the peak losses among major indices at $2.2trn (£1.7trn).
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was down 5.8%, the S&P 500 by 4.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by just under 4% at the height of the declines. It left all three on course for their worst one-day losses since at least September 2022 though the sell-off later eased back slightly.
Analysts said the focus in the US was largely on the impact that the expanded tariff regime will have on the domestic economy but also effects on global sales given widespread anger abroad among the more than 180 nations and territories hit by reciprocal tariffs on Mr Trump‘s self-styled “liberation day”.
They are set to take effect next week, with tariffs on all car, steel and aluminium imports already in effect.
Price rises are a certainty in the world’s largest economy as the president’s additional tariffs kick in, with those charges expected to be passed on down supply chains to the end user.
The White House believes its tariffs regime will force employers to build factories and hire workers in the US to escape the charges.
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5:07
The latest numbers on tariffs
Economists warn the additional costs will add upward pressure to US inflation and potentially choke demand and hiring, ricking a slide towards recession.
Apple was among the biggest losers in cash terms in Thursday’s trading as its shares fell by almost 9%, leaving it on track for its worst daily performance since the start of the COVID pandemic.
Concerns among shareholders were said to include the prospects for US price hikes when its products are shipped to the US from Asia.
Other losers included Tesla, down by almost 6% and Nvidia down by more than 6%.
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3:54
PM: It’s ‘a new era’ for trade and economy
Many retail stocks including those for Target and Footlocker lost more than 10% of their respective market values.
The European Union is expected to retaliate in a bid to put pressure on the US to back down.
The prospect of a tit-for-tat trade war saw the CAC 40 in France and German DAX fall by more than 3.4% and 3% respectively.
The FTSE 100, which is internationally focused, was 1.6% lower by the close – a three-month low.
Financial stocks were worst hit with Asia-focused Standard Chartered bank enduring the worst fall in percentage terms of 13%, followed closely by its larger rival HSBC.
Among the stocks seeing big declines were those for big energy as oil Brent crude costs fell back by 6% to $70 due to expectations a trade war will hurt demand.
The more domestically relevant FTSE 250 was 2.2% lower.
A weakening dollar saw the pound briefly hit a six-month high against the US currency at $1.32.
There was a rush for safe haven gold earlier in the day as a new record high was struck though it was later trading down.
Sean Sun, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, said of the state of play: “Markets may actually be underreacting, especially if these rates turn out to be final, given the potential knock-on effects to global consumption and trade.”
He warned there was a big risk of escalation ahead through countermeasures against the US.
Sandra Ebner, senior economist at Union Investment, said: “We assume that the tariffs will not remain in place in the announced range, but will instead be a starting point for further negotiations.
“Trump has set a maximum demand from which the level of tariffs should decrease”.
She added: “Since the measures would not affect all regions and sectors equally, there will be winners and losers as in 2018 – although the losers are more likely to be in the EU than in North America.
“To protect companies in Europe from the effects of tariffs, the EU should not respond with high counter-tariffs. In any case, their impact in the US is not likely to be significant. It would be more efficient to provide targeted support to EU companies in the form of investment and stimulus.”
British companies and business groups have expressed alarm over President Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK goods entering the US – but cautioned against retaliatory measures.
It comes as Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds launched a consultation with firms on taxes the UK could implement in response to the new levies.
A 400-page list of 8,000 US goods that could be targeted by UK tariffs has been published, including items like whiskey and jeans.
On so-called “Liberation Day”, Mr Trump announced UK goods entering the US will be subject to a 10% tax while cars will be slapped with a 25% levy.
The government’s handling of tariff negotiations with the US to date has been praised by representative and industry bodies as being “cool” and “calm” – and they urged ministers to continue that approach by not retaliating.
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5:07
The latest numbers on tariffs
Business lobby group the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) said: “Retaliation will only add to supply chain disruption, slow down investment, and stoke volatility in prices”.
Industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) also cautioned: “Retaliatory tariffs should only be a last resort”.
‘Deeply troubling’
While a major category of exports, in the form of services – like finance and information technology (IT) – has been exempted from the tariffs, the impact on UK business is expected to be significant.
Mr Trump’s announcement was described as “deeply troubling for businesses” by the CBI’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) also said the tariffs were “a major blow” to small and medium companies (SMEs), as 59% of small UK exporters sell to the US. It called for emergency government aid to help those affected.
“Tariffs will cause untold damage to small businesses trying to trade their way into profit while the domestic economy remains flat,” the FSB’s policy chair Tina McKenzie said. “The fallout will stifle growth” and “hurt opportunities”, she added.
Companies will need to adapt and overcome, the British Export Association said, but added: “Unfortunately adaptation will come at a cost that not all businesses will be able to bear.”
Watch dealer and component seller Darren Townend told Sky News the 10% hit would be “painful” as “people will buy less”.
“I am a fan of Trump, but this is nuts,” he said. “I expect some bad months ahead.”
Industry body Make UK said the 25% tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium would in particular be devastating for UK manufacturing.
Cars hard hit
Carmakers are among the biggest losers from the world trade order reshuffle.
Auto industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the taxes were “deeply disappointing and potentially damaging measure”.
“These tariff costs cannot be absorbed by manufacturers”, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. “UK producers may have to review output in the face of constrained demand”.
The new taxes on cars took effect on Thursday morning, while the measures impacting car parts are due to come in on 3 May.
Economists immediately started scratching their heads when Donald Trump raised his tariffs placard in the Rose Garden on Wednesday.
On that list he detailed the rate the US believes it is being charged by each country, along with its response: A reciprocal tariff at half that rate.
So, take China for example. Donald Trump said his team had run the numbers and the world’s second-largest economy was implementing an effective tariff of 67% on US imports. The US is responding with 34%.
How did he come up with that 67%? This is where things get a bit murky. The US claims it studied its trading relationship with individual countries, examining non-tariff barriers as well as tariff barriers. That includes, for example, regulations that make it difficult for US exporters.
However, the actual methodology appears to be far cruder. Instead of responding to individual countries’ trade barriers, Trump is attacking those enjoying large trade surpluses with the US.
A formula released by the US trade representative laid this bare. It took the US’s trade deficit in goods with each country and divided that by imports from that country. That figure was then divided by two.
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So, in the case of China, which has a trade surplus of $295bn on total US exports of $438bn, that gives a ratio of 68%. The US divided that by two, giving a reciprocal tariff of 34%.
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0:58
PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
This is a blunt measure which targets big importers to the US, irrespective of the trade barriers they have erected. This is all part of Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the country’s deficit – although it’s US consumers who will end up paying the price.
But what about the small number of countries where the US has a trade surplus? Shouldn’t they actually be benefiting from all of this?
That includes the UK, with whom the US has a surplus (by its own calculations) of $12bn. By its own reciprocal tariff formula, the UK should be benefitting from a “negative tariff” of 9%.
Instead, it has been hit by a 10% baseline tariff. Number 10 may be breathing a sigh of relief – the US could, after all, have gone after us for our 20% VAT rate on imports, which it takes issue with – but, by Trump’s own measure, we haven’t got off as lightly as we should have.