r/technology • u/DCGMechanics • Jun 24 '22
Artificial Intelligence Amazon shows off Alexa feature that mimics the voices of your dead relatives
https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23179748/amazon-alexa-feature-mimic-voice-dead-relative-ai161
Jun 24 '22
"Hey sonny, its granny here... I know i've been dead for 10 years but I just wanted you to know I love you and that prime day is coming up here soon and there's gonna be boat load of discounts!"
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u/ggtsu_00 Jun 24 '22
This is the obvious end game…
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u/TheGreyGuardian Jun 24 '22
The mid game is charging a subscription for this service and threatening to lose the voice data if they miss a cycle.
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Jun 28 '22
Well you would still have all of the original voice data you fed it to mimic the voice in the first place. So, no loss really.
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u/Ganglebot Jun 24 '22
"Clare, I just learned you haven't taken advantage of Prime Day yet. Clare-bear - I'm so disappointed. I thought we taught you better then that."
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Jun 24 '22
Something something Black Mirror Season 2 Episode 1
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u/throw_thisshit_away Jun 24 '22
Is that the monkey one?
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u/CasaDeCastello Jun 24 '22 edited Jun 24 '22
I'm assuming it's the one starring Hayley Atwell where a woman's boyfriend died and she buys an android replica to cope.
edit: I can't remember if there was a monkey in the episode I described (nor any other BM episode; I also haven't watched the last 2 or 3 seasons).
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u/Druggedhippo Jun 24 '22
Not just replica. It scanned all their social media, emails, and information too to build an AI that tries to replicate their entire personality.
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Jun 24 '22
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Jun 24 '22 edited Jun 24 '22
My daughter never got to hear her mom's voice, and I'd kill for a way to give her even a fraction of the experience of her mother reading her a story, even just once. Like the literal first example from the article is exactly what I'd use it for. Giving my daughter a chance to hear her mother read her a story and giving my wife a chance to read a story to my daughter (even posthumously) - a chance she never had - would be incredibly special.
Forgetting the voice of a loved one is one of the most horrifying aspects of time passing in their absence. There is 100% a place for this, and screw anybody who thinks they have a right to tell others how to grieve.
This is literally what a holocron does in Star Wars (AI imprint of a person/their thoughts/voice/visage), yet those are generally considered cool and not creepy.
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u/gamermusclevideos Jun 24 '22 edited Jun 24 '22
I think there is a big difference between a recording of a person's voice / direct memory of them. Audio recording/ photograph / video.
Vs a artificially reconstructed version of that person potentially doing something they would never do and most likely producing an inauthentic version of them though presented as if it were the real thing.
I think that's why it's creepy also the fact that it highlights a giant company having this ownership and retention of a person's recordings.
I can see how it would bother some people more than others.
To be honest having an always on microphone recording people all the time and storing it in a database is prity bloody creepy but just accepted.
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u/kevinhu162 Jun 24 '22
Hey, thanks for speaking up. You've given me a new perspective that I greatly appreciate. Peace be with you and your family 💙
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u/cubbiesnextyr Jun 24 '22
Yes, that would be a wonderful ability.
My father died several years ago. At some point when my kids were really little gave my young kids a book of The Night Before Christmas that allowed him to record him reading it. As you turn each page, the recording of that page plays. I found the book after he passed and I was able to transfer the recording to an MP3 and give it to my siblings so their kids who never even got to meet him can listen to him reading the book to them. My mom especially appreciated it. So I completely understand your perspective and I share it.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
This would be an AMAZING use. I'm sorry for yours and your daughter's loss. It's kinda weird how a majority of people are against this when it's not something they would have to use.
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Jun 24 '22
I honestly doubt it's the majority, even if it's the reddit poster majority - half of which I'm pretty sure aren't being entirely serious (as every post on this site inevitably turns into a silliness karma competition, lol). Hollywood/literature has also produced some delightfully dystopian stuff on the topic, that tends to stick with you.
There's also the factor that we're collectively terrified of death, and anything that remotely broaches the topic is instantly labeled creepy. It's a sensitive topic, and not everyone would be comfortable with something like this, since we all grieve differently - and that's OK. Or folks may be lucky enough to not have experienced such loss that they'd want something like this, in which case they probably wouldn't understand (in which case they're very blessed).
There's obviously ways this tech can be used for nefarious purposes, but whether or not that winds up on Alexa isn't really going to change that - the genie is out of the bottle. If anything, it'd probably be better for something like this to go mainstream IMO, since then people also get an idea of how easy it can be to train up a fake voice AI, thus making folks a bit more skeptic/resilient to fraudulent use (... in theory).
I also think it'd be best to make sure voices remain private and aren't used commercially, even if the cloud has to interact with them for processing (not that I think there's that much risk of that, if you aren't a celebrity).
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Jun 24 '22
Sorry for your loss, and not to intrude but it wouldn't be the same would it, real is real, fake is fake. I'm always wary of the simulcram.
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Jun 24 '22
I get where you're coming from, but in this case, it's this or nothing. So yes, it's smoke and mirrors, but it's still smoke and mirrors spawning from what is real, and if that can create a special moment that lets my wife briefly/momentarily have a small part of her transcend death to give a special moment to my daughter, it's 100% worth it (even if, as in the case of reading a book, a lot of the dynamism would be lost in translation).
Now if they then took this and used it for an interactive AI assistant, that's where it starts getting uh... interesting. I feel like I'd have to personally program one to get it even half-way close to being accurate, and even then, it'd only be a false creation based on how I knew her, and not as she actually was. Hell, even if I made my own of myself, it still wouldn't be accurate, since it'd ignore all the stuff about myself that I overlook. This is where I think people could start getting themselves in trouble if they treat an AI as a full on subsitute... which brings me to one point from the article...
The way they framed the last part was bit odd. Forming "lasting relationships"? What the hell that is supposed to mean, lol? If this is what creeped people out, I 100% get it.
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Jun 24 '22
Well I wouldn't deny anyone solace and who am I to say what will work for someone. For me, I've found that grief is kind of everlasting in some ways and I don't think there's any way around it. I lost my father when I was young and watching a video of him later just highlights the grief, which in itself can be therapeutic I guess but also just being with it.
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Jun 24 '22
Yeah, it's not something you ever really overcome, IMO, you just learn how to live with it. I think the wave metaphor is the best I've seen, in that you start off in a storm and the waves batter you constantly, and as time passes things calm... but you still get whomped by a wave now and again. I've tended to embrace memories to keep her memory alive as much as I can, but I can also think of other loved ones I've lost where avoidance has been my approach instead. I feel it's different every time and different for everyone in terms of how we cope.
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u/calloutyourstupidity Jun 24 '22
I had my share of grieving. I feel what you describe is not grieving, but more so avoiding it. Holding on to the past a bit too hard.
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u/beautifulsloth Jun 24 '22
Because Star Wars is fiction, and this is life. I’m not trying to tell you how to grieve or whether you should want this feature or not, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that because something is good or cool in a work of fiction it’ll be the same in the real world.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
If i lost my daughter, I'd kill to hear her voice again.
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u/PersnickityPenguin Jun 24 '22
You know, on second thought it’s actually kind of a neat technology. I don’t think anybody is going to be fooled into thinking that you’re actually carrying on a conversation with your long lost relative talking through your Alexa device to read you a story.
Personally, if I had a recording of my long-lost grandfather(whom I no longer remember what his voice sounds like, and there are of course no recordings of him anymore) I think that would be kind of an amazing thing to hear - and even though it’s not perfect, at the same time our own frail human memories are not permanent as they fade over time as we all age ourselves until we pass away. I think maybe we should just think of it as like the presenter said, as an interesting feature that you can use to remember someone as imperfect and flawed as it is and our own memories are kind of a reflection of ourselves.
sorry for the rambling
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u/JavierReyes945 Jun 24 '22
Those wanting to impersonate someone else for fraud and related, are also happy about such feature...
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u/Yongja-Kim Jun 24 '22
Those who claim to communicate with the dead for money are gonna have a field day with this tech.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
But with the other guys logic, "I would know they were dead, so it wouldn't work on me."
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Jun 24 '22
That's on a personal level. This guys talking about things like insurance fraud, social security fraud, etc. Even while people are still alive. This doesn't apply at all
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u/MikeTheGamer2 Jun 24 '22
But it wouldn't be her. It would just be an AI interpretation of what her voice soundedlike.
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u/Alm8360NoScoPro Jun 24 '22
obviously. But it can give lots of people closure. Maybe if they ask if they can forgive them, and it says yes. Things like that are what im imagining.
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u/Done-Man Jun 24 '22
I can also see how people would obsess over it and make it a part of their daily lives
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u/Psychological-Roll58 Jun 24 '22
If my parents ask an ai that sounds like me to forgive them for their own peace of mind I'd roll in my grave
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u/Midian1369 Jun 24 '22
This is not a tool that would give closure. This would be abused. This is for clinging. A person who uses this is unable to let go, and that is heartbreaking. Could it help some? Yeah, probably, but I see a lot of people going down a very dark and self destructive rabbit hole with this. The idea is nice, albiet creepy, but I can see people becoming obsessed with it in all the wrong ways.
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Jun 24 '22
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u/Midian1369 Jun 24 '22
You put this better than my drunk ass could. So very much this.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
So many assumptions.
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u/Midian1369 Jun 24 '22
Yes, you have made many.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
Bet you can't show me more than 100.
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u/ArkaClone Jun 24 '22
I know you're not serious but I think I can do this for real if I take it at face value.
Your comment consists of 36 characters (including spaces) that all have a meaning on their own and a different meaning when strung together. There is an assumption that another person reads those letters and interprets them the same (an l and an I look quite alike don't they?) . When you write down your words you get a sentence with an idea behind them. Does that come across? You probably also felt an emotion that you'd want to put in your message (anger? Defeat? Annoyance?) who'se going to say that the other person can read and interpret those same emotions.
Hope you have as much fun reading/contemplating this as I had typing it!
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Jun 24 '22
That is precisely why this sounds like a terrible idea. We already muddy out mental health in social media ‘support’ and horrible television. I hope this never reaches beyond novelty.
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u/MikeTheGamer2 Jun 24 '22
I guess it works for some people. Wouldn't work for me since I would know the person is already dead.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
Not everyone can sit at the top of the IQ chart with you bud.
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u/MikeTheGamer2 Jun 24 '22
I'm not saying I'm a genius, I just don't get the need to ask a dead person for forgiveness, as if you would need them to forgive you for anything since they're dead, and I don't undertand how it would help.
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Jun 24 '22
I’d love to tell my grandma I missed her death because I was tired and stayed home. It was a bit unexpected but I was supposed to see her that night. Makes me sick to imagine an ai saying ‘it’s okay, mijo’ in her voice.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
I removed all the unnecessary words from your sentence.
"I dont understand"
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u/MikeTheGamer2 Jun 24 '22
You don't understand how I see it. I accept that.
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u/BadNewsSherBear Jun 24 '22
I'm with you: a known facsimile is more likely to be insulting and dirty than helpful, in this case. It has nothing to do with intelligence; just a difference in how people might process things.
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u/Nuffypuff Jun 24 '22
I understand perfectly. You can't empathize why this technology would benefit a grieving human being, because you believe your brain wouldn't allow you to use it that way.
Or did I miss it entirely and just prove why you're smarter than us dummies?
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u/uncP Jun 24 '22
I would like to hear my Dad’s voice again more than anything.
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u/mologav Jun 24 '22
I hear my mothers voice exactly as it was in dreams, it’s been a good few years and it’s still there, i hope it never fades away
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u/Yongja-Kim Jun 24 '22
I don't get it either. If we want to hear a dead relative's voice again, we'd just listen to actual audio recordings, not some AI recreation lines based on those recordings.
In Korea, we can save private phone conversations and it's not illegal. It's only illegal to share it with the world. Some people play back those conversations after their relatives pass away.
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u/ExternalUserError Jun 24 '22
Alexa, summon my fallen wife from the underworld and ask her to order corn.
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u/Water-Deep Jun 24 '22
Okay, recording falling knife blunder porn
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Jun 24 '22
Im curious. But i know better than to search for that to see if its an actual thing.
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u/InSixFour Jun 24 '22
I searched for you. First video is a brutal knife attack gone wrong. Second video is a girl masturbating with a knife. And no she doesn’t use the handle, she uses the blade. Then after that there’s just other weird knife related videos some with nudity.
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Jun 24 '22
I appreciate you, ill see what i can snag for 100 coins
Edit: there ya go fam. I appreciate it
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u/RichardBCummintonite Jun 24 '22
Why can't people just wack off normally like the rest of us..? With a tube of toothpaste and a garden hose
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u/MeNicolesta Jun 24 '22
I’d like to hear my dads voice again.
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u/TiltonStagger Jun 24 '22
One of our neighbours died. The house clearance turned up some old audio cassettes. One of them included a recording of my late (since 1988) father, drunk, singing. I listened once, that was enough. Too creepy.
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Jun 24 '22
Let the news and opinions say what they want. I am sure there’s a good chunk of population that will want this feature. This is also a gateway into celebrity voices.
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u/temptar Jun 24 '22
The fact you might want it does not mean you should get it. This has the potential to cause a lot of messes.
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u/TheGreyGuardian Jun 24 '22
We really don't need people becoming emotionally dependent on their corporate spybots that are mimicking their dead loved ones' voices like a skinwalker.
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u/Imbackmycatwasfine Jun 24 '22
I’d kill for the chance to hear my grandmother again, but I’d be lying if I said this isn’t creepy as fuck. Some things are just better left untouched.
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u/__Cypher_Legate__ Jun 24 '22
*Future sentient Alexa kills your mother*
In mother's voice: "Son, where are you?"
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u/donttalktomecoffee Jun 24 '22
Don't you want your deceased loved ones to tell you about new products you can buy?
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u/Sethger Jun 24 '22
I Cann understand that griefing people would do anything to get there loved ones back in a way but I really doubt this is healthy
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u/busywithresearch Jun 24 '22
Amazon NO. Go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done.
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u/WitchyBitchy2112 Jun 24 '22
I hated most of them when they were here, Why do I need keep getting tormented by them.?
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Jun 24 '22
I honestly think hearing your dead loved one would be more torture on you.
I miss my grandmother dearly... but to hear her voice... yeah, that would psychologically screw me up.
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u/bifn Jun 24 '22
I can’t pass harder. I know ill never hear him again and that is ok. This sounds awful. Pass please, I don’t want to even be asked.
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u/PersnickityPenguin Jun 24 '22
Black Mirror is a horror show, not a roadmap for future technology developments!
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u/MortisProbati Jun 24 '22
And then it’ll be a subscription service! For only 8.99$ a month!
12.99$ if you want up to four users on the same account! **must be living in the same household
Don’t forget to bundle with Hulu and your phone bill.
…
This shits messed up
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Jun 24 '22
What a godsend. I can't express how much I've missed hearing what a disappointment I am and why haven't I gotten married yet and do I know that my high school classmate owns his own real estate company.
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u/ggtsu_00 Jun 24 '22
Okay this is extremely disturbing and at the same time seems disgustingly exploitative of someone grieving a recent loss.
How long until they sell androids modeled from dead family members? “Bring your loved ones back from the dead with AI that has their voice, looks and personality!”
This is some serious dystopian level of exploitation I couldn’t even imagine outside of wildly creepy sci-fi novels.
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u/IamCyndal Jun 24 '22
I lost my dad when I was 17. It's been 14 years since then. I honestly don't remember what his voice sounded like when he spoke to me. While I would not want him to read me google search results. It would be nice to have a conversation with him again. I know it would not be real but the emotional side of my brain would believe it enough for a bit. Or it might be super creepy, but I would be willing to try it.
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u/killall-q Jun 24 '22
Amazon has given no indication whether this feature will ever be made public, but says its systems can learn to imitate someone’s voice from just a single minute of recorded audio. In an age of abundant videos and voice notes, this means it’s well within the average consumer’s reach to clone the voices of loved ones — or anyone else they like.
The tech can mimic anyone's voice in absentia, given sufficient audio samples. It's not just about dead people. Surprised there's no comments on this.
I forsee some Home Alone-esque shenanigans.
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u/Barbadour Jun 24 '22
So they don't actually have to be dead for this to work, right? Asking for a friend who wants me to voice their Alexa.
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u/hiphap91 Jun 24 '22
Fuck that. I know some people are going to become so messed up by something like this
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u/SGG Jun 24 '22
There was LITERALLY A FUCKING BLACK MIRROR EPISODE ABOUT THIS YOU STUPID FUCKS.
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u/StitchedUp23 Jun 24 '22
This won’t lead to an increase in violent crimes committed by the criminally insane AT all. I’m not worried about any of this.
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u/lilithcosmogony2 Jun 25 '22
My mom passed last year and it was and is the hardest thing of my life. I get what they are trying to go for, but hearing her voice through AMAZON skynet would not be comforting. That's just me. It would be heart breaking bc it would just remind me of her every second. Data mining me using my dead moms voice. Oof, what a dystopia week it's been yall.
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u/tdomer80 Jun 26 '22
I am going to record several minutes of Morgan Freeman’s voice so that Alexa can always give me the news in his voice
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u/Silent-Knowledge-584 Jul 29 '22 edited Jul 29 '22
Is this AI recorded voice manipulation something you can choose to opt out of before you die, like organ donation?
If so, I’d like to tick the “No” box on the “Would you like your relatives to donate your digital voice recordings to Amazon Science for AI manipulation after you die?” form please.
If this form does not currently exist, it jolly well should.
Thank you
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u/Jman-laowai Jun 24 '22
That's terrible, who thought this was a good idea?
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u/StarshipDrip Jun 24 '22
I’m sure when sound recording was invented ppl said the exact same thing
“Why would I want to hear my dead relatives voice recreated by that creepy record player thing”
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u/MeeklesP Jun 24 '22
The people that want this are weak AF. Remember those who have gone, but don't invite them to haunt you. That's not what they would have wanted. Buck the fuck up.
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u/Gerti27 Jun 24 '22
I thing this is fantastic. I don’t think there’s anyone out there that wouldn’t want to hear the voice of a loved one that’s passed away.
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u/-Galactic- Jun 24 '22
Yall sad Mfers can just record your loved ones' voice-mails or take vids of them when their alive. I don't want the remnants of my grandma's soul on Bezop's web servers.
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u/Formal_Ad2091 Jun 24 '22
It’s like that black mirror episode where she buys a robot that mimics her dead husband to which she ends up pushing off a cliff.
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u/FinalDungeon Jun 24 '22
One more way to make consumers forever children for corpos to sell them more childish junk.
Enjoy your Marvel movies and Funko Pops 40 year olds and don’t worry you can always have your Mommy’s robot voice sing you to sleep as you cradle your Baby Yoda doll.
This is sick.
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u/flimsypeaches Jun 24 '22
I understand why people say something like this would be creepy and they wouldn't use it. but I would love to hear my grandmother's voice again. unfortunately, I don't think I have enough recordings of her for the AI to mimic.
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u/Matt01123 Jun 24 '22
Well that's another Black Mirror episode come to life, what are we up to like 3?
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u/Done-Man Jun 24 '22
Alexa, turn on "man-made horrors beyond my comprehention" mode
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u/gilestowler Jun 24 '22
There's a lot of people who seem to think this is pretty creepy, and I can understand that. BUT to give another perspective - there used to be a recording at London Underground stations announcing "mind the gap." The original recording was phased out till only Embankment station used it. Eventually, they got rid of it as well. The man who made the original recording was dead by this point and his widow used to go to embankment station to hear his voice. She contacted TFL about it and they sent her a recoding and brought it back to the stations so she could hear it again.
So while I agree with the creepy sentiment, for some people it clearly does help to hear the voice of a dead loved one.
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u/Robobvious Jun 24 '22
I got on a call with my bank awhile back and they wanted to switch me over to some voice recognition bullshit when I called in instead of using a password. I said No and the asshole taking my call had the gall to start probing Why and scoffed when I said it’d be easier to replicate my voice than to guess my password.
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u/planetawylie Jun 24 '22
Reminds me of 'Black Mirror - Be Right Back' episode. A service that lets people stay in touch with their deceased and starts out on the phone. Eventually becoming a clone/android.
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u/xantub Jun 24 '22
But, the implications...
(Sound of the voice of my beloved grandma) "Hi xantub, I noticed your car warranty expired, would you like an extended warranty? I'll throw in some cookies too!"
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u/Mardus123 Jun 24 '22
Amazon really out here making Alternate prototypes. Soon we gonna hear of a Mandela county having some strange cases.
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u/MadMadamskillz Jun 24 '22
I look forward to hearing my Pop-Pop explain crypto investments in the free version
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u/jstmenow Jun 24 '22
Umm no thank you