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Alexa Will Soon Be Able To Read Stories As Your Dead Grandma (techcrunch.com) 73

Posted by BeauHD from the slightly-creepy dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: At its annual re:Mars conference today in Las Vegas, Amazon's Senior Vice President and Head Scientist for Alexa, Rohit Prasad, announced a spate of new and upcoming features for the company's smart assistant. The most head turning of the bunch was a potential new feature that can synthesize short audio clips into longer speech.

In the scenario presented at the event, the voice of a deceased loved one (a grandmother, in this case), is used to read a grandson a bedtime story. Prasad notes that, using the new technology, the company is able to accomplish some very impressive audio output, using just one minute of speech. Details are scant, at the moment. There's no timeline or further specifics, but -- at very least -- this is the kind of news that will likely invite all manner of scrutiny over potential applications beyond something as banal or even heartwarming as reading a child The Wizard of Oz.
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Alexa Will Soon Be Able To Read Stories As Your Dead Grandma More

Alexa Will Soon Be Able To Read Stories As Your Dead Grandma

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  • comforting?
    • Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Nothing about this is banal or comforting. Grotesque, horrifying, dark and disturbing... These are the adjectives I would have used.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GoTeam ( 5042081 )
        You wouldn't be comforted by the disembodied voice of a deceased loved one "reading a child The Wizard of Oz"? "Daddy, when I die will I live in the speaker with grandma?"

        • They can up the realism by having grandma taxidermied and putting the Alexa speaker inside of her hollowed out skull.

          • I don't really see Amazon being able to market human taxidermy services. Not saying its a bad idea, just a bit too macabre. However, they could start selling urns with a built-in Echo speaker. Maybe open up a crematorium in the back of the Amazon Fresh. Just remember to change the watch word from 'Alexa' to 'Grandma.'

    • Well we as a culture is inflected with a severe case of Nostalgia. For those of us in our 40's or 50's how many tune in for reruns of old shows where most of the actors have died. However, we still get a since of relaxation and joy when we hear Leonard Nimoy as Spock. While other actors having played Spock do a good job, it still isn't the same, and you no longer get the same sense of everything is going to be all right when the Original Spock is on set.

      Media producers are chasing in on Nostalgia, and we

  • Bored engineers are a frightening thing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RogueWarrior65 ( 678876 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2022 @05:59PM (#62643150)

    I'm all for cool tech and fun Easter Eggs in real products but this is kinda creepy. Imagine if these engineers put their efforts to something more useful.

    • it is Deep fakes for voice.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 )

        it is Deep fakes for voice.

        That's step 1. Step 2 is combining it with Deepfakes video. And now you fully live in a post-truth world, where you can, as Poe put it, trust nothing you hear and only half of what you see.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • You can always pull the plug

            Tell that to the characters in Orwell's "1984". We're heading in that direction rather rapidly.

            People who aren't fully plugged-in are already outliers, often unable to participate fully in society, and sometimes shunned. Surveillance is rampant. Even if you're not plugged in, authorities and corporations, (is there a difference?) are already pretty well plugged in to you. And China's repugnant "social credit" scheme seems poised to take root in other countries, for example the UK.

            Also, the demise of cash is

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dgatwood ( 11270 )

            You can always pull the plug

            Pull the plug on my dead grandma? You're a monster!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Came here for the "lets be personally offended by what someone else does" traditional comment from the basement dwellers on Slashdot.
      was not disappointed.

    • And how long will it be before President Washington runs against President Lincoln to become pseudo president?

    • Yeah I remember growing up being told about idle minds being related to some kind of workshop used by a guy who always loves to dress in all red outfits.

        "Yeah, this will be abused in all kinds of ways, but screw it, we are releasing anyway so the world knows how leet we are!"

    • I am currently at the hospital, with my dad in palliative care - it will be any day now. He had a stroke a couple weeks back and cannot speak. I absolutely despise Alexa, or Google Home or Siri. .... But this? .... It would be great to hear him...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GoTeam ( 5042081 )
        Sorry to hear that. I lost my mom earlier this year. I have some old voicemails from her that I haven't deleted yet as well as some old videos from family events where I can still hear her speak. I had a similar thought shortly after her death, that I could use those old recordings to create a voice synthesizer. The more I thought about it, the more I appreciated the time and recordings I already had. The idea of hearing her voice, but with someone else's thoughts driving the voice started to get less appea

      • " It would be great to hear him..."

          If you have any video or audio recordings of him, you can already hear him.

          But do you really want your dad's voice to be backed by a multinational corporate monolith, who may use that voice to sell you Amazon products?

          My dad died a long time ago, and I am just fine watching the old home movies that he added plenty of narriation to.

    • Imagine if these engineers put their efforts to something more useful.

      Seems more like bored billionaires with nothing to lose, but increased power to strive for.

  • is nothing like my grandma. My grandma didn't feel the need to spy on me 24/7

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dohzer ( 867770 )

      How do you know for sure? Maybe she was an experienced secret agent, and you never caught her!

    • Or she did, and she let her bridge club know all of the embarassing details of your childhood beginnings.

        In a way, she may have been worse than Alexa.

  • In my voice will I trun over all my stuff to amazon

  • Three, two, one

  • No way in hell should anyone consider any form of current or future "voice authentication" as secure.

    Thank you Amazon.

    • It's not Amazon .. it's reality. Even if you ban Amazon from doing it, any high schooler with access to deep learning libraries can put something like this together. You can't ban something that only needs knowledge and will to build. You'll have to ban computers and programming. I mean, is it feasible to ban paper airplanes? You'll need to ban paper.

      • It's not Amazon .. it's reality. Even if you ban Amazon from doing it, any high schooler with access to deep learning libraries can put something like this together. You can't ban something that only needs knowledge and will to build.

        Some high schooler hacking together shit in their parents basement, and using/deploying it to cause actual harm, are worlds apart.

        Like Call of Duty vs. Actual Terrorist worlds apart.

        I mean, is it feasible to ban paper airplanes? You'll need to ban paper.

        Last I checked, paper airplanes were not being abused to hack into airlines, or steal a passengers identity.

        And really? Paper airplanes? What should I retort with? The terrorist threat of spitballs?

  • Black Mirror come to life (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TomR teh Pirate ( 1554037 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2022 @06:30PM (#62643224)
    The Amazon product seems pretty macabre. Heads of marketing and development should feel invited to watch all episodes of Black Mirror and if the episode matches up with the product idea, please don't do it.
    • I mean, it looks like a soot clad Pringles can; if they are going to imbue that soulless husk with my dead grandmas voice, at least dress it up in a mangy animatronic half ripped teddy bear with loose stitching or something.

    • Heads of marketing and development should feel invited to watch all episodes of Black Mirror

      That's a Netflix show. You'll have to pick a series available on Amazon Prime Video to illustrate your point.

  • Which is more creepy (Score:4)

    by Whateverthisis ( 7004192 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2022 @06:38PM (#62643244)
    The story we just had about locusts crawling over you to detect cancer, or an AI robot reading you stories like your dead relatives? Today is just a day for creepy.

    • The story we just had about locusts crawling over you to detect cancer, or an AI robot reading you stories like your dead relatives? Today is just a day for creepy.

      *Breaking News* Scientists have finally perfected neural stimulation implants in genetically modified locusts to use them as miniature cyborg swarms controlled by AI . Full story at 11.

    • We have to deal with X-mas in July (as if playing Jingle Bells over the store's muzak system starting in September wasn't enough) so why not Halloween in June?

  • Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas, 1971 [goodreads.com]

    Hallucinations are bad enough. But after awhile you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth. Most acid fanciers can handle this sort of thing.

    Thompson wrote this after a drug fueled trip to Vegas. I wonder what kind of drugs the people at Google are on? Do they hear there dead relatives speaking to them from beyond the grave? And why on earth do they think it's a good idea channel the dead in the first p

  • What's new? (Score:3)

    by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2022 @06:42PM (#62643252) Journal

    There's a YouTube channel that's been demoing [youtube.com] this kind of tech already for 3 years. (As reported on Slashdot, Jay-Z sued, for using his likeness or something.)

    So is the news here that they've managed to do it better somehow? Or just that this tech is now being used in a particular product?

    • There's a YouTube channel that's been demoing [youtube.com] this kind of tech already for 3 years. (As reported on Slashdot, Jay-Z sued, for using his likeness or something.)

      So is the news here that they've managed to do it better somehow? Or just that this tech is now being used in a particular product?

      Tech done as a proof of concept is newsworthy.

      That same tech rolled out to millions of people is also newsworthy.

  • I don't think it'd be in the best taste to have a lifeless piece of spyware replace her after she's gone. It just doesn't seem right. Besides, Alexa can't make Grammy's delicious grilled cheese sandwiches, so I'm definitely not sold.

    • Re:Much as I love my Grammy, (Score:4, Funny)

      by MDMurphy ( 208495 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2022 @07:09PM (#62643300)
      This is just the first step. Next will be "Grammy, will you make me a grilled cheese sandwich?" That will trigger a ghost kitchen to start making the sandwich to be picked up and delivered by an underemployed person with a car payment to make.
      They'll even cut the crust off if you wish. For an additional fee.

      • This is just the first step. Next will be "Grammy, will you make me a grilled cheese sandwich?" That will trigger a ghost kitchen to start making the sandwich to be picked up and delivered by an underemployed person with a car payment to make. They'll even cut the crust off if you wish. For an additional fee.

        And when you finally pass away, your saved behavior patterns will be uploaded into an AI and will continue to order those sandwiches. We will have gone full circle.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          Why "finally"? I see a great business opportunity getting you all these nice features early!

      • If she wants a tip, the delivery driver better arrive in full makeup and costume looking like my grandmother.

      • That reminds me of the ad with Gordon Ramsey

        https://youtu.be/_rbdWUQ1Sow?t... [youtu.be]

  • Just think, someone 'benevolent' will sample you mom's voice and then a computer will use it to tell you what to do. You will hardly be able to resist because it's your mom.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Already done. Well, sort off. Navigation devices use female voices because they coerce better.

  • I have the best Trump-A-Tron ever, believe me! Nobody can fake the Great Orange Man better. It's so good that when I use it, CNN and Hillary punch me. In fact billions line up to punch me; I still draw the biggest crowds ever! #MPGA!

  • Imagine the worst thing someone could do with this technology. If the internet has taught us anything, whatever you are thinking, guaranteed it will be at least twice as bad.

  • Just no. We have enough macabre and ghoulish shit going on right now as it is.

  • ... came from the old country. I could barely understand anything she said.

    No thanks.

  • Tip to tech companies... (Score:3)

    by Chuq ( 8564 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2022 @10:44PM (#62643676) Journal

    If there is a Black Mirror episode about your business idea, probably don't do it.

    (S2E1 - Be Right Back)

  • I do think ... at least I hope ... dead grandmas are not particularly noisy. They should be easy to simulate.

  • I wonder what psychopath thought this was a good idea...

  • Why not dress an amazon robot as a wolf in granny's old clothes and read Little Red Riding Hood to complete the truly hideous concept?

  • Mind you, with some planning we could probably just have a clone on standby for a full authentic experience after Grandma v1.0 passes.

  • Speaking of which, when will the classic SF story about "Slow Glass" get adapted to TV?
    https://sf-encyclopedia.com/en... [sf-encyclopedia.com]

  • Alexa as grandma:

    "Then all the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history!"

    "Would you like to order the Rudolph movie, now $19.99 on Amazon Prime Video?"

  • This seems like it would be best paired with old text written by the relative. It would be their thoughts, just played to you in a different medium. That seems much less creepy
  • In the meantime, Alexa remains good at things that you can do yourself more quickly and easily, and hopeless at things you would really like an assistant to be able to do.

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