Journalists can now identify Spanish-language deepfake audio using a new tool called VerificAudio launched Tuesday, according to an announcement from Prisa Media.

“In a new disinformation ecosystem where cloned voices are now almost imperceptible and in 2024 50% of the population will vote, today we are launching an application project from #IA to #audio: VerificAudio, a tool to detect Audio deepfakes,” Ana Ormaechea, Prisa Radio’s chief digital officer tweeted.

En un nuevo ecosistema de desinformación donde las voces clonadas son ya casi imperceptibles y en 2024 vota el 50% de la población, lanzamos hoy un proyecto de aplicación de la #IA al #audio: VerificAudio, una herramienta para detectar deepfakes de Audio: https://t.co/rLw00Xcz80

— ana ormaechea (@aormaechea) March 12, 2024

VerificAudio uses both identification and comparison models, which means that when journalists upload an audio file, the tool can identify the probability of the audio being real or fake. Then, if the user has a real audio clip of the voice they’re testing, the comparison system can determine if the file being tested is cloned or not.

Prisa Media, which owns El País, El HuffPost, financial newspaper Cinco Días, sports daily AS, and 1,200 radio stations across Spain and Latin America, developed the tool with the Google News Initiative and Spanish technology company Minsait. The tool is currently available to Prisa’s newsrooms in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Spain, and is working on rolling it out to all of its journalists around the world.

“This project that was born in [Colombian media company] Caracol and is progressively spreading to all our newsrooms, is part of PRISA’s commitment to the fight against disinformation and advocates for quality journalism,” José Gutiérrez, Prisa Media’s director of solutions, digital and technology, said in the release. “Technology has become a weapon to fight disinformation and deepfakes and is also a new essential tool for journalists. We believe that with the development of artificial intelligence many opportunities are created, but also many dangers that must be faced as they are detected.”

On VerificAudio’s website, users can test whether or not they can distinguish a real voice from a faked one. Users can also upload audio files they want checked for Prisa Media journalists to investigate (WhatsApp audio files are downloadable, FYI!).

Find the VerificAudio launch information here and its methodology here.