A new upgrade to your Alexa can let the Amazon smart device imitate anyone’s voice — even those who have already passed to the great beyond.
The new AI tech lets the gadget imitate anybody’s voice after hearing a short sample, and while that could ostensibly be used to replace Alexa’s typically bland speaking voice with something more familiar, letting you hear from the dead was apparently pitched as a selling point.
The new technology was revealed at a conference in Las Vegas this week, with a video of a child asking the smart speaker if they could hear their grandma finish reading The Wizard of Oz. At that, Alexa’s voice changed to another — presumably, the kid’s grandmother.
Amazon’s senior vice president, Rohit Prasad, says the tech could “make the memories last” after “so many of us have lost someone we love” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s all well and good, until it goes off while you’re sleeping.