Technology giant Amazon has unveiled an incredibly creepy experimental feature for its AI Alexa assistant that allows it to mimic the voices of its users ’dead relatives.
The Verge reports that Amazon has unveiled an experimental feature for its Alexa smart speaker AI assistant that allows the device to mimic the voices of users ’dead relatives. The company showed off this new feature at its annual MARS conference, demonstrating it by showing a video of a child asking Alexa to read her bedtime story with the voice of a dead grandmother.
Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s chief scientist for Alexa AI, commented, “As you saw in this experience, instead of Alexa’s voice reading the book, it’s the child’s grandmother’s voice.” Prasad presented the clip stating that adding human attributes “to AI systems was increasingly important” in these times of ongoing pandemic, when many of us have lost someone we love. “
Prasad added, “While AI can’t eliminate the pain of loss, it can definitely make your memories last.” Amazon has not indicated whether this feature will ever be made public, but has stated that its systems cannot learn to mimic someone’s voice using just a minute of recorded audio. With Amazon devices constantly listening to users and the convenience of recording a voice note, it could mean that the average consumer could easily clone the voice of a family member.
Social media users were quick to call this new feature, claiming it was “creepy” and a “monstrosity”. Breitbart News has previously reported on the growing popularity of “audio deepfakes” that mimic users ’voices, usually with their consent and not after death. More recently, one of these audio deepfakes was used to recreate Val Kilmer’s voice for the new film Top Gun: Maverick after the actor lost his voice due to throat cancer complications.
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Lucas Nolan is a Breitbart News journalist who covers issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact by secure email at lucasnolan@protonmail.com