In a video that could very well be the opening scene of the latest elevated horror film A24, Amazon has revealed that it now has a way for its now-ubiquitous digital assistant Alexa to mimic the speech patterns of friends and family, including those who have since passed away, based on its analysis of less than a minute of pre-recorded voice.
And while some are no doubt glad that an old answering machine message can allow children to listen to great-grandma read fairy tales to them, others are reacting as Scary stories to read in the dark I just rebooted with voice control. Amazon featured the video at its re:MARS conference, a global event showcasing robotics, space travel, and obviously AI. The ad features a child asking, “Alexa, can Grandma finish reading ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to me?” whereupon said grandfather, or rather, the AI-synthesized version of his voice, began to read along with the text.
As reported by VarietyConference presenter Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s senior vice president and chief scientist for Alexa AI, told attendees, “As you’ve seen in this experience, instead of the voice of Alexa reading the book, it’s the voice of the grandmother of the child,” Prosad continued. , “Without a doubt, we are living in the golden age of AI, where our dreams and science fiction are becoming reality.”
While the technology is undoubtedly impressive, many people wonder if the feature necessarily heralds a new golden age. In fact, many people posting online seem to be talking about a new episode of the horror anthology. black mirror than the latest advancement in child care.
Another poster questioned if this is the voice they are looking for.
You can watch the full keynote, including Alexa’s introduction, in the video below.
