AI Voice Cloning Suspected In Leaked Audio Clips Involving Supriya Sule: Experts

An expert analysis by a prominent US-based voice intelligence company has found "strong indications" that the audio clips, allegedly capturing conversations between NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, audit firm employee Gaurav Mehta, and IPS officer Amitabh Gupta, were likely created using AI voice cloning technology, according to an India Today report.

The analysis was conducted by experts at Hiya, a company that provides voice solutions to various businesses, including telecom operators and mobile phone manufacturers.

Sule has been accused of involvement in illegal Bitcoin transactions aimed at influencing the election outcome in favour of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra.

Earlier, an investigation by India Today, using three publicly available tools, including a free browser extension provided by Hiya, raised questions about the authenticity of the clips.

On the eve of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, four clips were played during a BJP press conference, alleging attempts to launder Bitcoins during the polls.

For the analysis, the clips were divided into several four-second segments. "Our deep-learning classifier models indicate low probabilities for many of the four-second chunks in each of the three files, suggesting a high likelihood that they are not real," the report stated.

Additional signs of manipulation were also detected.

"There are clear pauses in the audio files that suggest a concatenation process, where several AI-generated segments have been joined together," the experts noted.

The report suggested that this process may have been used to remove incorrect pronunciations or unnatural pauses when generating the full AI-created sentence.

The analysis also pointed out notable inconsistencies in voice patterns for the same individual. Unlike natural speech, where voice changes follow a consistent pattern, the variations were found to deviate from normal behaviour.

Hiya's experts concluded, "This suggests that different sources of the speaker's voice were used separately, indicating clear manipulation."

Sule, who claims the clips are fake, said she has filed a criminal complaint with the Election Commission and the cybercrime department regarding the case. Her cousin and NCP faction rival, Ajit Pawar, had previously stated that he recognised Sule's voice in the audio clips.