Amazon’s Alexa would possibly quickly replicate the voice of members of the family – even when they’re useless.
The functionality, unveiled at Amazon’s Re:Mars convention in Las Vegas, is in growth and would permit the digital assistant to imitate the voice of a selected particular person primarily based on a lower than a minute of offered recording.
Rohit Prasad, senior vp and head scientist for Alexa, mentioned on the occasion that the will behind the characteristic was to construct larger belief within the interactions customers have with Alexa by placing extra “human attributes of empathy and affect.”
“These attributes have become even more important during the ongoing pandemic when so many of us have lost ones that we love,” Prasad mentioned. “While AI can’t eliminate that pain of loss, it can definitely make their memories last.”
In a video performed by Amazon on the occasion, a younger youngster asks “Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?” Alexa then acknowledges the request, and switches to a different voice mimicking the kid’s grandmother. The voice assistant then continues to learn the e-book in that very same voice.
To create the characteristic, Prasad mentioned the corporate needed to learn to make a “high-quality voice” with a shorter recording, against hours of recording in a studio. Amazon didn’t present additional particulars in regards to the characteristic, which is sure to spark extra privateness issues and moral questions on consent.
Amazon’s push comes as competitor Microsoft earlier this week mentioned it was scaling again its artificial voice choices and setting stricter pointers to “ensure the active participation of the speaker” whose voice is recreated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”