Rachel Tobac

The crew is like... What did we sign up for? This is ridiculous. I am so nauseated by this plan. Like I'm so freaked out by this because if this doesn't work and Elizabeth is like, sure, crew, I'll stand in for Sharon and immediately realizes what is happening. Then this entire shoot, all 15 members of the 60 Minutes team, the lighting crew, sound, hair, makeup, everybody's here for nothing.

The crew is like... What did we sign up for? This is ridiculous. I am so nauseated by this plan. Like I'm so freaked out by this because if this doesn't work and Elizabeth is like, sure, crew, I'll stand in for Sharon and immediately realizes what is happening. Then this entire shoot, all 15 members of the 60 Minutes team, the lighting crew, sound, hair, makeup, everybody's here for nothing.

And I will just have to basically demonstrate what I would have done. That's not going to be fun for anyone. And now, mind you, it's like 7 a.m., so this feels like the crack of dawn for all of us. People haven't even had a cup of coffee yet. So people are like, okay, Rachel, sure, we'll do that. So I walk over to my hacker laptop.

And I will just have to basically demonstrate what I would have done. That's not going to be fun for anyone. And now, mind you, it's like 7 a.m., so this feels like the crack of dawn for all of us. People haven't even had a cup of coffee yet. So people are like, okay, Rachel, sure, we'll do that. So I walk over to my hacker laptop.

I announce to the room that I need to go help my team with something back home. So before we get started for the day, everyone get your coffee, whatever, set up. They say, no worries. I step out into the hallway. I've got my laptop and phone. I can't hear anything that's happening in the ballroom now where we're filming.

I announce to the room that I need to go help my team with something back home. So before we get started for the day, everyone get your coffee, whatever, set up. They say, no worries. I step out into the hallway. I've got my laptop and phone. I can't hear anything that's happening in the ballroom now where we're filming.

I just have to hope that the sound and lighting crew have successfully gotten Elizabeth into the, quote, stand in position with the sound and lighting on, because otherwise they're not going to catch this. And like, I'm not going to fake it for them later. It needs to be real. So I'm just like praying this works. So I open up my voice cloning tool in the hallway.

I just have to hope that the sound and lighting crew have successfully gotten Elizabeth into the, quote, stand in position with the sound and lighting on, because otherwise they're not going to catch this. And like, I'm not going to fake it for them later. It needs to be real. So I'm just like praying this works. So I open up my voice cloning tool in the hallway.

I type in my opening line into the voice cloning tool. And to be clear, this voice cloning tool, I cloned Sharon's voice. I can then type in any words and it will spit out those words spoken in Sharon's voice. So I type in my opening line. My opening line is, Elizabeth, sorry, need my passport number because Ukraine trip is on. Can you read that out to me?

I type in my opening line into the voice cloning tool. And to be clear, this voice cloning tool, I cloned Sharon's voice. I can then type in any words and it will spit out those words spoken in Sharon's voice. So I type in my opening line. My opening line is, Elizabeth, sorry, need my passport number because Ukraine trip is on. Can you read that out to me?

It has to be short and sweet, direct and to the point, without requiring a lot of follow-up because the issue with these tools is there's a delay in me typing it into the voice cloning tool and when it spits out the words in Sharon's voice.

It has to be short and sweet, direct and to the point, without requiring a lot of follow-up because the issue with these tools is there's a delay in me typing it into the voice cloning tool and when it spits out the words in Sharon's voice.

I'm also holding my phone up to the computer, so there's like kind of a strange audio vibe going on with this phone call, and I just want to minimize it and make it happen as fast as possible. So I open up my spoofing tool on my phone. I type in Sharon's number to spoof. I type in Elizabeth's phone number to call. I hit go. It is 100% silent. I hear Elizabeth's phone.

I'm also holding my phone up to the computer, so there's like kind of a strange audio vibe going on with this phone call, and I just want to minimize it and make it happen as fast as possible. So I open up my spoofing tool on my phone. I type in Sharon's number to spoof. I type in Elizabeth's phone number to call. I hit go. It is 100% silent. I hear Elizabeth's phone.

It's audibly ringing inside of the ballroom. And I'm just hoping she like goes over and picks it up, right? My stomach's in knots. I am sweating profusely. And then I hear her go, hello? Sharon. Like I hear it through my phone and I can also hear it in the ballroom. And I'm like, oh my God, she can like hear out here. So I hit my voice cloning play button.

It's audibly ringing inside of the ballroom. And I'm just hoping she like goes over and picks it up, right? My stomach's in knots. I am sweating profusely. And then I hear her go, hello? Sharon. Like I hear it through my phone and I can also hear it in the ballroom. And I'm like, oh my God, she can like hear out here. So I hit my voice cloning play button.

It starts playing Sharon's voice asking for the passport number.

It starts playing Sharon's voice asking for the passport number.

And then silence. Silence. For what feels like hours, I am sick to my stomach. My hands are shaking. This forever silence that I was experiencing was Elizabeth holding her phone in her hand, looking at the caller ID during the call to ensure it really does say Sharon because the voice sounds weird. I mean, I'm voice cloning plus spoofing.

And then silence. Silence. For what feels like hours, I am sick to my stomach. My hands are shaking. This forever silence that I was experiencing was Elizabeth holding her phone in her hand, looking at the caller ID during the call to ensure it really does say Sharon because the voice sounds weird. I mean, I'm voice cloning plus spoofing.