Alexa may soon mimic departed relatives if Amazon's dark new idea goes ahead

Date:
Thu, 23 Jun 2022 12:17:54 +0000

Description:
Amazon has just unveiled a new Alexa feature that could one day make your smart speaker sound like a deceased relative.

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At this years annual re:Mars conference, Amazon revealed perhaps the
creepiest tech Ive ever heard: an Alexa skill that can have it mimic other peoples voices.

On the surface, it doesnt seem that bad right? The nerd in me is already thinking about the ways I could feel like Tony Stark or Luke Skywalker with
my own personal Paul Bettany or Anthony Daniels-voiced Alexa speaker (the voices of the MCU 's J.A.R.V.I.S. and Star Wars ' C3-P0 respectively).

But rather than going down this celebrity route, Amazons Alexa senior vice-president Rohit Prasad presented the idea alongside a clip of a child being read to by Alexa using the voice of their recently-deceased
grandparent. According to Engadget , an Amazon spokesperson explained this clip could be recreated using as little as one minute of audio of the person Alexa is mimicking.

The scene was likely meant to inspire heartwarming feelings as you see how Amazons tech helps a child process their grief, but it could just as easily have been a scene from Black Mirror . In fact, the episode Be Right Back has
a pretty much identical premise to this.

Be Right Back follows Domhnall Gleeson's Ash, who is killed in a car
accident, and, after discovering she is pregnant, Hayley Atwell's Martha
needs to try new technology which allows her to communicate with an
artificial intelligence imitating Ash. It's terrifying and definitely not meant to serve as a preview of anything good. Be Right Back was a warning,
not an invitation (Image credit: Netflix)

In his explanation of the Alexa tool, Rohit Prasad said that while it wouldnt eliminate the pain of loss it can definitely make memories last and could
help ease any heartache.

This is a sentiment that I can definitely understand; grief is a difficult emotion to process, especially at a young age like the child in the clip Amazon shared. But blurring the lines between life and death doesnt seem like the healthiest way to deal with loss.

Based on Prasads comment its clear Amazon sees this as an evolution of reminiscing about loved ones using old photos and videos recorded before they passed away, but this isnt the same. A photo or a video was taken with their consent and is of something the person actually did before they died; this AI-led feature isnt playing a recording of a book reading, its using their voice to make a fabricated memory.

If someone wants their voice to live on through Alexa after they die then power to them, Im sure theyll love this feature. Personally, I would want to be left to rest in peace. I much prefer Alexa's current voice (Image credit: Amazon) More than just digital-undeath

Outside of the nightmare-inducing uses above, this copycat feature could also pave the way for new scams. While many of us know to ignore and hang up on robotic voices on the other end of the line, we might be more inclined to listen to the pleas for money from our grandmother or son.

Coupled with sophisticated video deepfaking tools , we could eventually find it impossible to believe any video we watch anything could have been constructed from realistic fake audio and visuals.

Amazon wont be the only company developing AI voice tools like this mind. We suspect Apple , Google , and every other voice assistant maker is looking to make them sound more realistic and personal. But these sophisticated
mimicking features are very much a pandoras box, something to be opened with care.

To that end, it does seem like Amazon is aware of the need to be cautious. It hasnt outlined a timeline of when it will get this feature out to existing Alexa devices, and it hasnt even confirmed if it will even be publicly available.

But now that its audio immortality has been revealed to the world, its likely only a matter of time before Alexa gains the ability to speak as the dead.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/alexa-may-soon-mimic-departed-relatives-if-amaz ons-dark-new-idea-goes-ahead/


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