When some New Hampshire voters answered the phone in January, they heard a very familiar voice.

“What a bunch of malarkey,” President Joe Biden said, urging residents to “save your vote for the November election” and skip the state’s Jan. 23 presidential primary.

If you’re thinking that doesn’t sound like something Biden would actually say, you’d be right. New Hampshire officials now believe that the robocalls residents received were AI-generated, mimicking the president’s voice in an “unlawful attempt to…suppress New Hampshire voters,” the state AG’s office said in a statement.

It’s the latest high-profile example of the fast-improving AI technology that can churn convincing audio clones for potentially nefarious purposes. And it’s not only being used to clone the voices of celebrities and public figures: Everyday people could find themselves as the victims—or targets—of a robocall clone campaign.

It’s become enough of a concern that the Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday that it voted to make the use of artificial voices in robocalls illegal.

Tech Brew recently spoke with call platform TNS about how much audio is needed to make a high-quality voice clone and how to fight back against audio-based scams. Common audio sources include voicemail prompt messages and responses to phishing robocalls, according to Greg Bohl, chief data officer of TNS.

“It takes as little as three seconds of your voice to go ahead and duplicate it,” he said. “The ideal situation is a little bit more time…When you start saying, ‘Here’s my address,’ or ‘I didn’t make that appointment,’ when you start getting sentences going, they have you.”

Keep reading here.—KG

Whether you’re biking, hiking, or commuting, one thing remains unpredictable: Mother Nature. Your footwear better be up to par when it comes to weathering conditions that can rain down (literally) at any moment.

Meet your waterproof adventure partner, the HOKA Transport GTX.

Crafted at the intersection of lifestyle and performance, the Transport GTX is commuter-friendly, weather-ready footwear that meets the needs of city dwellers, bikers, hikers, or just stylin’ walkers.

With a multitude of sustainability features across the outsole, midsole, and upper, step into these kicks and conquer any conditions.

Get your pair.

A robocall that cloned President Joe Biden’s voice and encouraged New Hampshire voters to sit out the state’s January primary has been traced back to a pair of alleged culprits: a Texas-based business and a local telecom provider that both now face cease-and-desist demands.

According to the Granite State’s attorney general, Lingo Telecom transmitted robocalls placed by Life Corporation that told residents, in Biden’s voice, “your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

New Hampshire AG John M. Formella said his office immediately began investigating the incident, which led to Lingo. Once Lingo became aware of the investigation, it suspended service to Life Corp. and owner Walter Monk, Formella said.

“AI-generated recordings used to deceive voters have the potential to have devastating effects on the democratic election process,” Formella said in a statement. “Ensuring public confidence in the electoral process is vital.”

Keep reading here.—KG

Tech Brew caught up with one of the AV industry’s leading safety experts: Nat Beuse, who stepped into the role of Aurora’s chief safety officer last year. Beuse served in leadership roles at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the auto industry’s top regulator, for nearly 20 years before jumping into the private sector.

This conversation, the second of two parts, has been edited for length and clarity.

The robotaxi sector in particular has faced some setbacks and quite a lot of scrutiny recently, largely because of Cruise’s issues in San Francisco. Aurora is playing in a different space, but what effect do these types of incidents have on Aurora and the AV sector as a whole?

I take the macro view: Clearly, when we have instances like this, it has an impact on the rest of the industry. From our perspective, we continue to differentiate ourselves as being transparent, responsible, trustworthy…I think that the job isn’t done yet, though…While I can’t speak for what Cruise needs to do to fix whatever they have going on over there, but from us, we remain unchanged and unwavering in the way we’re approaching it because we fundamentally believe the way we’ve been doing it is the right way.

We have to continue to share our safety narrative and safety story. And it’s not just a story without any substance. There actually has to be some substance behind what we’re saying. I think another big area…is standards…A few years ago, there were no industry best practices or standards around self-driving, and now we have north of a dozen or so. It’s great progress. I think it shows that while we have some challenges, we continue to address those challenges and move ahead.

And from Aurora’s standpoint, we continue to work to try to bring the industry along as best we can from our area of expertise and the things we’re focused on. In the trucking space, for example, when you look at some of the items that we’re working on with other companies in the space…we incorporate not just what we were doing on trucking but also brought along the light-vehicle people, and that ended up as a nice best practice that encompasses the entire AV industry.

Keep reading here.—JG

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Is it worth it? We’re not about to pony up $3,500 for an Apple Vision Pro, but if you’re weighing a face computer, here’s a bulleted list of takes to consider before you plunk down your credit card at the Apple store.

• “I keep asking if I prefer using a computer in there rather than out here. And as interesting as the Vision Pro is, there’s a long way to go before it can beat out here.”—Nilay Patel, The Verge
• “The headset is the best wearable display I’ve ever put on. But at its price, and with so few VisionOS apps at launch, the Vision Pro isn’t a device I’d recommend to any of my friends or family…That said, I can’t stop thinking about it. Also, I wrote most of this review in it. I’m still inside.”—Scott Stein, CNET
• “After using the headset for about five days, I’m unconvinced that people will get much value from it…It’s not better for doing work than a computer, and the games I’ve tried so far aren’t fun, which makes it difficult to recommend. An important feature—the ability to place video calls with a humanlike digital avatar that resembles the wearer—terrified children during a family FaceTime call.”—Brian X. Chen, the New York Times
• “The posture benefits were immediate: I was sitting upright, my back against a cushion, my head straight, my eyes focused on the horizon (and the future?). I felt like an illustration in a workplace-ergonomics poster. I felt good. But also disoriented.”—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic
• “The eye-tracking and intuitiveness of it all make me feel like Tony Stark. After using this thing for a few hours, going back to using my phone or laptop now feels primitive.”—Brief-Assignment-691, on Reddit
• “My biggest tip to you, the owner of a shiny new Vision Pro, is give yourself time to adjust. This is going to be the last thing you want to hear. Listen, I get it. You spent a car down payment on a device you’ve been waiting more than half a year to try. But coming face to face with a new version of reality can do weird things to your brain if you don’t take breaks.”—Brian Heater, TechCrunch