Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

Article summary

A person's wife is undergoing oral surgery with a small chance of losing her ability to speak, and they want to prepare by using technology to reproduce her voice from keyboard or other input. They are looking for an open source 'deepfake toolkit' that can use pre-recorded samples of her speech to generate text-to-speech in her voice. The person is seeking recommendations for such tools or alternative solutions. They mention recording her speaking 'phonetic pangrams' as a fallback option.

Main themes

• text-to-speech technology
• deepfake toolkit
• emotional support
• personal relationships
• technological solutions
• ethical considerations

What commenters say

• Some commenters suggest using existing text-to-speech services that allow custom voices, such as Microsoft's Custom Voice.
• Others recommend recording the wife reading a standardized text training corpus to retrain an existing AI for text-to-speech.
• There are concerns that the wife may not be on board with the idea of recording her voice or using AI to reproduce it, and that it could be perceived as a replacement for her.
• Some argue that the focus should be on emotional support rather than technological solutions.
• It is suggested that the wife's feelings and opinions on the matter should be prioritized and respected.
• The use of a 'deepfake toolkit' is seen as a potential solution, but also raises questions about the ethics and potential consequences of such technology.
• The discussion highlights the importance of considering the emotional and personal aspects of the situation, rather than just focusing on the technical solution.