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Amazon demonstrates Alexa mimicking the
voice of a deceased relative

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Posted By: Ketchuplover, 6/24/2022 8:49:49 AM

Amazon is devising a way for users to speak to their family members through its Alexa voice assistant, even after they’ve died. (Snip) In a demonstration video, a child said, “Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?” Alexa confirmed the request with the default, robotic voice, then immediately switched to a softer, more humanlike tone, seemingly mimicking the child’s family member. The Alexa team developed a model that allows its voice assistant to produce a high-quality voice with “less than a minute of recorded audio,” Prasad said. The feature is currently in development, Prasad said.

Comments:

This seems a lot more creepy and intrusive than comforting.

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Reply 1 - Posted by: red1066 6/24/2022 9:04:17 AM (No. 1195322)
Shades of the movie The Terminator.
5 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: Delilah 6/24/2022 9:23:59 AM (No. 1195353)
This is too creepy for me.
13 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: Corndoggies 6/24/2022 9:32:56 AM (No. 1195358)
Grief is something you need to experience but it can’t go on forever. My husband lost his 18 year old daughter and it’s life changing. This was in late November 2019. His ex and her mom still to this day talks to her daughter on fb and posts videos she made of her growing up. Personally I think she does it for attention but it’s very hard on my husband to have these almost daily reminders of his loss.
4 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: volksford 6/24/2022 9:38:21 AM (No. 1195367)
Hmmm........ looks like Madame Ruby the psychic and palm reader here in our town has a great new gimmick.
4 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: kbcama 6/24/2022 10:10:56 AM (No. 1195395)
My husband died 5 1/2 years ago. I still miss him terribly but no way do I want Alexa to talk to me in his voice. In fact I never 'talk' to Alexa or Siri. I find that a bit creepy. My son, d-i-l and grandchildren do though.
2 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: rosefenn 6/24/2022 10:29:06 AM (No. 1195425)
"Open the pod-bay doors, Alexa." "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."
9 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: coldborezero 6/24/2022 10:36:53 AM (No. 1195440)
Bring an enemy listening device into your home to eavesdrop on your private conversations? To quote the character John Coffey in the movie “The Green Mile”; “Why would you do such a foolish thing?!”
3 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: snakeoil 6/24/2022 10:40:25 AM (No. 1195443)
Like playing with toys. But they are not human. It's just voice recognization. If I tell the amazon doda "Watch TCM" it responds can't find TCM. But if I say TCM it finds the app called WatchTCM. When I was young the phrase was "Back to the Drawing Board." Since drawing boards have been replace with computers wonder what the phase today should be.
0 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: DVC 6/24/2022 10:56:37 AM (No. 1195478)
Hideous. These people are evil, and horrible to their black hearts.
3 people like this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: reefdiver 6/24/2022 10:59:01 AM (No. 1195487)
Personally, I don't trust Alexa.
5 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: 3XALADY 6/24/2022 10:59:27 AM (No. 1195490)
#7 I use Alexa to listen to SiriusXM in my home. The only conversations she hears, since I live alone, are the mumblings I might make or the snoring when I sit in the chair for a short nap. I don't see anything wrong with it. Oh, sometimes she has to help me find my phone when I have laid something on top of it and can't find it.
0 people like this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: Anti_democRAT 6/24/2022 11:02:30 AM (No. 1195495)
Bad idea.
1 person likes this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: GirlwithaCurl 6/24/2022 1:38:28 PM (No. 1195707)
My husband and I did all of the voices while reading Winnie The Pooh to our son. He loved it. Amazon, leave us alone. We know how to do voices. There's also voice overs done by professional actors on books on tape. We're slowly being replaced by the Siri's, Alexa's, please!
1 person likes this.

Reply 14 - Posted by: Aubreyesque 6/24/2022 4:51:08 PM (No. 1195906)
My mother just died recently. I cant bring myself to play her voice messages to me that I have on my phone (but I cant bring myself to erase them either), but it doesnt mean I want to hear her through Alexa. Just creepy. Why cant we go back to more civilized means of remembering the dead? Im so sick of the insane clowns that have terrorized us since the 60s.
0 people like this.

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Posted by Ketchuplover 6/24/2022 8:49:49 AM Post Reply
Amazon is devising a way for users to speak to their family members through its Alexa voice assistant, even after they’ve died. (Snip) In a demonstration video, a child said, “Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me the Wizard of Oz?” Alexa confirmed the request with the default, robotic voice, then immediately switched to a softer, more humanlike tone, seemingly mimicking the child’s family member. The Alexa team developed a model that allows its voice assistant to produce a high-quality voice with “less than a minute of recorded audio,” Prasad said. The feature is currently in development, Prasad said.
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