Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, discovered himself on the receiving end of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology in the run-up to the ICC World Cup 2023.
Videos with his AI-generated voice have proliferated across social media platforms, and some have even transformed his images into captivating video content.
In an odd turn of events, the 28-year-old’s artificially intelligent voice has even proven useful for singing Bollywood music. When questioned about it at a press conference in Lahore before the squad was scheduled to depart for India for the World Cup 2023, the Pakistan captain reacted shock. After hearing my AI-generated voice, I briefly became concerned and wondered how they obtained my voice, the man admitted.
Hassan Ali to Babar Azam after his selection in ODI World Cup 2023
#Pakistansquad #BabarAzam𓃵 #squad pic.twitter.com/SdH8umUMCy
— Ashutosh Srivastava
(@sri_ashutosh08) September 23, 2023
The Pakistani visa situation was settled just before India left.
Less than 48 hours before their departure to India—they are scheduled to fly to Hyderabad via Dubai—the Pakistani team members received visa approval from the Indian authorities, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC). The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) expressed their written displeasure to the ICC in response to the delayed visas, especially given that the visas were still pending at the time of their message.
The PCB questioned whether the World Cup hosting agreement might have been broken by the delay in granting visas. Instead of carrying out a week-long team-building exercise in Dubai, Pakistan will instead depart for Dubai in the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 27, transiting there before continuing on to Hyderabad later that day. On Friday in Hyderabad, they will play their first exhibition match, which will be private, versus New Zealand.
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