Amazon’s Alexa announces it will release software capable of impersonating your dead grandmother
Amazon’s Alexa has announced it will release software capable of summoning a creepy personal assistant from beyond the grave.
Amazon’s Alexa has announced it will release software capable of impersonating dead people’s voices.
The update will reportedly make Alexa capable of copying any voice after hearing less than a minute of audio. creating the poosibility of the device impersonating users’ dead relatives.
Alexa’s senior vice-president Rohit Prasad said the company’s goal was to “make the memories last after so many of us have lost someone we love”.
Speaking at Amazon’s Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Prasad declared we are “living in the golden age of artificial intelligence” where computers are becoming increasingly capable of unthinkable feats.
“We are unquestionably living in the golden era of AI, where our dreams and science fictions are becoming a reality,” he said.
A video segment showcasing the new feature showed a child who asked: “Alexa, can grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?”
Alexa immediately understood the command and transitioned into a smoother tone mimicking an older woman.
Prasad noted the new tech has allowed the company to produce high-quality audio using very limited samples.
“The way we made it happen is by framing the problem as a voice conversion task and not a speech generation path,” he said.
The development came after a recent controversy over user privacy after a woman revealed Amazon was storing snippets of her voice.
An Amazon spokesperson said users had complete control over what was retained by the multinational corporation.
“We give customers transparency and control over their Alexa experience.
“Customers can easily review and delete their voice recordings, or choose not to have them saved at all, at any time.
“Customers can import their mobile phone contacts to the Alexa app so they can use features like hands-free calling and messaging; this optional feature, which customers need to set up, can be disabled at any time.
“Finally, you can grant permissions for the Alexa app to use certain data, such as your mobile device’s geolocation, to provide relevant results (e.g., weather, traffic, restaurant recommendations), and you can manage these permissions in the app.”
Originally published as Amazon’s Alexa announces it will release software capable of impersonating your dead grandmother
