Thread by @BiIndia

#Amazon is working on a creepy feature that will enable #Alexa to speak in your dead relative’s voice

businessinsider.in/tech/news/amaz…

By @sourabhjain24

A recent #trend last year allowed users to animate photos of people, which was majorly being used to animate pictures of dead friends and family members. While some people would find this feature comforting, a lot of people found this #creepy.

futurism.com/the-byte/ai-to…

If this was not #creepy enough for you, #Amazon is working on a feature that will enable #Alexa to speak in your dead relative’s voice.

Yes, you read that right👀

#Alexa will soon answer your queries in your dead relative’s voice. #Amazon has revealed that it is working on this feature at Amazon’s Re: #MARS (Machine Learning, Automation, Robots and Space) conference.

#Amazon has said that it wants to “make memories last” and is working on a system that will allow its voice assistant to mimic any voice after hearing audio of the person speaking for less than a minute.

#Alexa

While announcing the feature, Rohit Prasad, senior vice president, #Alexa Team said that while #ArtificialIntelligence (AI) cannot eliminate the pain of losing loved ones, “it can definitely make the memories last”.

#Amazon

Prasad then played a video in which a child asks #Alexa “Can grandma finish reading me The Wizard of OZ”. Alexa complies by saying “okay” and starts reading in the child’s grandmother’s voice.

Apart from it being #creepy, the upcoming #Alexa feature also has security ramifications. It may be possible to misuse this feature and use others’ voices. This could be misused, allowing people to use the voice of celebrities or other people without consent.

#Amazon