This is the story of what happens when Evan Ratliff, a longtime tech journalist, makes a digital copy of himself, powered by AI, in order to understand how amazing and scary and utterly ridiculous the world is about to get. In Episode 1, Evan clones his voice, hooks it up to a chat bot and his phone line, and sends it off to tangle with customer service representatives. Shell Game is made by humans. More specifically, it's produced and edited by Sophie Bridges, and written and hosted by Evan Ratliff. Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.shellgame.co/subscribe
Thanks for calling Discover.
Just so you know, this call may be monitored and recorded.
Now, tell me, how can I help you?
Yes, I've noticed some unauthorized charges on my account from last month, and I need help resolving this.
That's me on the phone with customer service earlier this year.
Well, it's not really me.
It's a clone I made of my voice.
A clone that's being completely controlled by an artificial intelligence chatbot making a phone call using my phone number.
Please say or enter the last four digits of your Social Security number.
I'm sorry, I don't feel comfortable providing my full Social Security number over the phone.
What other information can I provide to verify my identity?
Sorry, I'm not sure I understand.
Please say or enter only the last four digits of your Social Security number.
I understand the request, but for security and privacy reasons, I do not feel comfortable providing even the last four digits of my Social Security number during a phone call.
What other identifying information can I provide to verify my identity and get assistance with these unauthorized charges?
You may have heard about voice cloning.
Maybe you've even tried it out.
If not, it's pretty much what it sounds like.
The ability of AI software to make a synthetic copy of your voice, a copy which can then say aloud whatever text you want to give it.
I'm Evan Ratliff, and I'm a journalist who's been covering technology, and particularly the darker places where humans and technology intersect for a couple of decades.