Audio-enabled visitors keep watch over crosswalk buttons throughout Silicon Valley have been hacked over the weekend to incorporate audio snippets imitating the voices of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
Movies taken by way of locals in Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Redwood Town in California display the crosswalk buttons have been taking part in AI-generated speech designed to sound like the 2 billionaires.
“It’s customary to really feel uncomfortable and even violated as we forcefully insert AI into each and every aspect of your aware revel in,” stated one crosswalk button, which used to be hacked to sound like Zuckerberg. “I simply wish to guarantee you, you don’t wish to fear as a result of there’s completely not anything you’ll do to forestall it.”
One crosswalk button that used to be hacked to sound like Musk stated: “I suppose they are saying cash can’t purchase happiness…I suppose that’s true. God is aware of I’ve attempted. However it will possibly purchase a Cybertruck and that’s beautiful in poor health, proper?”
“F—ok, I’m so on my own,” the Musk voice provides.
It’s now not transparent for what reason why the sidewalk buttons have been hacked, or by way of whom, however indicators level to conceivable hacktivism.
Palo Alto On-line, certainly one of era/2025/04/12/silicon-valley-crosswalk-buttons-apparently-hacked-to-imitate-musk-zuckerberg-voices/?ref=activitypub” goal=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>the primary shops to record the hack, cited a Redwood Town respectable as pronouncing that town used to be “actively operating to research and unravel the problem as briefly as conceivable.” In keeping with the hole, the tamperings could have took place Friday.
Audio-enabled crosswalk buttons are extensively used throughout the USA to permit the ones with visible impairments or accessibility wishes to listen to customized audio messages that play for pedestrians to understand when it’s secure to go a boulevard.
In a video from 2024, bodily penetration specialist and safety researcher Deviant Ollam explains how audio-enabled crosswalk buttons can also be manipulated continuously by the use of default-set passwords that experience now not been modified.
Polara, the corporate that makes the audio-enabled crosswalk buttons, didn’t reply to a request for remark when contacted by way of Techmim on Monday.
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