Opera uses AI to give people with non-verbal disabilities a voice

The opera "Sensorium Ex" explores disability, technology, and voice through AI innovation. Created for performers with disabilities, including autism and cerebral palsy, it features Jakob Jordan, a nonverbal actor who communicates through AI-generated speech. Associate Professor Luke Dubois as part of the NYU Ability Project, developed technology that records Jakob's natural sounds and creates an AI voice that sounds authentically like him. DuBois explained: "It takes that recording and infers from it the physical body that made it," allowing expressive, controlled speech through hand movements.