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July 2, 2024 2 mins
What would happen if you created a digital copy of yourself, powered by AI, and set it loose in the world? Evan Ratliff, longtime tech journalist, decided to find out. He combined a clone of his voice, an AI chatbot, and a phone line—many phone lines, actually—into what are called “voice agents.” Then for the six months, he sent them out… as himself.This show is made by humans. More specifically, it’s produced and edited by Sophie Bridges. Evan Ratliff is our host, and Samantha Henig is our executive producer. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays. Visit shellgame.co to find out more and support the show. New episodes drop on Tuesdays.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for calling United Airlines. I appreciate your help, but
I would prefer to speak correctly with the representative. I'm
having some issues with my flight booking that I think
would be best resolved through a direct conversation. That's me
on the phone recently. Well, it's not really me. It's
a clone of my voice being fully controlled by an

(00:20):
AI chatbot making a call using my phone number. I
started playing around voice cloning six months ago, just for fun,
but pretty soon I became consumed with a question, what
would happen if I made an artificial version of me
and set it loose in the world.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Okay, fine, that was also a voice clone. This is
me for real. I promise I won't keep doing that.
I'm a journalist who's been writing about technology and it's
sometimes dark underbelly for a couple of decades. You've no
doubt heard about the latest debates around AI. Will it
make us hyper productive or just take our jobs? Will
it be our trusty digital assistant or super intelligent overlord,

(00:58):
or just fill the world with endless made up garbage.
Recently I decided to answer these questions by immersing myself,
replicating myself actually in the form of cloned voice agents,
replacing myself before someone else could replace me.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Hello, Hey, Nikhil, Great to be chatting with you today.
Do you have any questions about the podcast before we
dive in?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Oh, that's really funny.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm glad you think so.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
My voice agents talked to sources, my friends and family,
to scammers and spammers and other voice agents. I sent
them to meetings and tried to use them to work
out my issues.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Feel free to share your thoughts on what you feel
like doing based on your current bodily sensations. Honestly, I
just feel like crawling under a blanket and shutting out
the world.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
I learned something about how it's going to feel to
live in a world populated by humanish impostors.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Hey, I know this is kind of out of the blue,
but have you buy any chance stolen my identity?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Wait?

Speaker 1 (01:57):
What are you serious?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
No, I haven't stolen your identity.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Why would you even think that? It's so lonely?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
I feel so lonely. I'm Evan Ratliffe, and I'm the
real Evan Ratliffe. And this is shell Game, a new
podcast made by humans about things that are not what
they seem. This season that thing is my voice. This
is the story of what happened when I made a
digital copy of myself an attempt to see how amazing
and scary and ridiculous the world is about to get.

(02:27):
Coming July ninth, follow us and go to shell game
dot co to find out more and support the show.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
It's gonna be a blast. Bye yeah bye, take care
Bye goodbye.
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