Memories play a crucial part of moving forward when loved ones pass away. Recently there was a trend where people used technology to animate photos of dead friends and family to give new life to their memories. While many found this to be strangely comforting, it was quite creepy for the others. If that wasn't enough, there's now a chance for you to revive the voice of those who have moved on.
Amazon is working on a feature that will let Alexa speak in your dead relative's voice. Amazon is working on this at the company's Re: MARS Machine Learning, Automation, Robots and Space conference, so you might be able to respond to your questions in your dead relative's voice.
The aim is to make memories last as the company said. Amazon is working on a way that will allow Alexa, its voice assistant, to mimic any voice after hearing the person speak for less than a minute.
Rohit Prasad, Senior Vice President, Alexa Team, said the company is using artificial intelligence to make memories last so that it becomes easier to eliminate the pain of losing the ones you love.
Prasad played a video where a child asks Alexa Can grandma to read me The Wizard of OZ. Alexa replies with Ok and then starts reading the story in the child's voice.
While some might find this comforting, many others might get quite creeped out. It is not known what stage the feature is at right now and Amazon hasn't said when it plans to roll this out.
A feature like this has significant security ramifications because Amazon is aiming at reviving memories and comforting people. It's possible that this feature could be misused, allowing people to use celebrities voices without their consent.