At the recently concluded Amazon’s Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, it was announced that Alexa, the company’s voice assistant might soon replicate the voice of a loved one – even if they’re dead.
Amazon’s senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa, Rohit Prasad, unveiled the new enhancements to the AI device at the event and said that the new feature would “allow lasting personal interactions.”
Owing to the new developments, Alexa can mimic a person’s speech using a brief recording of their voice.
A video segment played at the event portrayed a child who asked, “Alexa, can grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?”
While amazon calls the ‘development’ an initiative to build human empathy, it seems that the upcoming feature is not going down well with netizens.
From some calling it to ‘black mirror concept’ to the ones asking ‘will Alexa mimic Jeff Bezos’s voice?’, here’re some eye-catching reactions:
Alexa will soon be able to mimic the voices of deceased loved ones. This is going to end well ????
— LADIPOE (@LadiPoe) June 26, 2022
Will Alexa mimic Jeff Bezos’s voice?
— A. Lizard (@alizardx) June 27, 2022
Amazon’s Alexa gaining the feature to mimic any voice is cool…
but the utility of “making memories last” of deceased family members is one of the most striking Black Mirror concepts out there.
— David Zahn (@dzahnSB) June 27, 2022
Sure, this is odd.
But you combine this tech with that Irish fella who wheeled his uncle’s corpse into the post office to pick up the old lad’s pension, and you’ve got a serious scam going
Alexa can mimic the voice of a dead relative https://t.co/Eg7YCFhzrg
— Clark Boyd (@ClarkBoyd) June 27, 2022
Guys this Alexa thing’s got me going nuts! You have your deceased loved ones’ creep you up with the Alexa voice mimic or would you rather let the dead die? I for one I’m skeptical about my choices
— Edwine Haika (@HaikaEdwine) June 27, 2022
Government officials are talking about repealing more laws, Alexa will now be able to mimic the voice of dead people and somebody thought it was a great idea to have Ketchup popsicle. When are the credits going to roll, because clearly I’m in a movie!
— Pamela Jane (@itspamelavision) June 26, 2022
