Canadian study asks participants: Can you tell the difference between a real voice and AI?

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As recent years have seen rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) programs, rendering increasingly human-like computer-generated text and speech, a new study warns that older adults are most at risk of tumbling within the traps of phone scams and fraud.

This is according to researchers with Baycrest Hospital in Toronto, who found that adults around the age of 60 and older are unprepared to distinguish computer-generated speech from words spoken by humans.

“Findings from this study on computer-generated AI speech suggest that older adults may be at a higher risk of being taken advantage of,” Björn Herrmann, one of the study’s authors, said in a news release.

After establishing two groups of adults – younger ones, approximating 30 years of age, and older ones, closer to 60 years of age – researchers played audio of human speakers (five male and five female) and AI voices (five male and five female), asking participants to determine which recordings were computer generated and which were real.

The experiment determined that older adults found AI speech more natural and that they were less capable than younger adults of determining whether a voice was computer generated. Various reasons could be behind this disparity of recognition, the study explains, some of which include older adults' dependency on the content of speech rather than the rhythm and intonation.

“As we get older, we seem to pay more attention to the actual words in speech than to its rhythm and intonation when trying to get information about the emotions being communicated,” Herrmann explained in the release.

“It could be that recognition of AI speech relies on the processing of rhythm and intonation rather than words, which could in turn explain older adults’ reduced ability to identify AI speech.”

Baycrest hopes to use this research as a basis for AI-related training programs, which can better prepare older adults for fraud and phone scams cloaked by human speech.

“While this area of research is still in its infancy, further findings could lead to the development of training programs for older adults to help them navigate these challenges,” Herrmann said.

Baycrest also believes that AI speech can find application in medical and long-term care, offering comfort to seniors experiencing agitation as a result of dementia and other brain degenerative diseases.

“By better understanding how older adults perceive AI speech, we can ensure that AI technologies effectively meets their needs, ultimately improving their quality of life and helping them lead a life of purpose, inspiration and fulfilment,” the release said.