It is nearly impossible for anyone reading this to have no knowledge of Amazon.com. One of the most popular shopping websites in the world, they have quite a reputation for trying to stay cutting edge while bringing only the best service to their customers. Maybe not as well known is that they developed the Amazon Echo, a voice controlled speaker that is powered by Alexa Voice Service (much like how Siri powers apple products). The Alexa program allows you to do so much more than shuffle music. You can ask Alexa for news, sports scores, weather, and even random questions for starters. This program is designed with you in mind, and Amazon has not stopped there. Just a few days ago, they released a new update trying to make the Amazon Echo user experience much more human. Now, you can make Amazon Alexa whisper,
Different Voices For Amazon Alexa and Echo
While Alexa certainly has a human-enough voice and a friendly script, there were a few more things that could easily distinguish Alexa as an AI versus a flesh and blood human. Amazon developers went above and beyond to try to eliminate the difference between man and machine. They want their product to offer more than a robotic voice, devoid of emotion. They want you to feel like you you’re your own friend in the real and make your time using it much more personal. They have just released 5 new updates to the Speech Synthesis Markup Language. Alexa can now whisper, bleep profanities, emphasize words, change pitch, and even learn region-specific phrases for users in the UK and Germany. While this certainly doesn’t mean that Alexa is capable of having emotions, she is now one step closer to expressing them. Adding the option to be able to recognize and use local idioms is another way where Alexa is becoming less of stranger in your household.
Benefits of Alexa Whisper
Of course, these features have some functionality besides making you feel like you are talking to a living, breathing person. This can be very useful if you have roommates, partners, or children that you don’t want to wake up to a screaming digital, voice. You no longer have to worry about waking up your napping baby when you’re checking for the weather. That’s not the only reason that parents should be excited about this upgrade. Additionally, having the option to bleep out profanities and such makes the program a little more child friendly. This expands the potential use of the Amazon Echo a little bit more, and may alleviate some stress from parents who are tired of acting as the Google or stereo for children, so Alexa can taking over the duty of playing “Let it Go” on loop. The overall changing to voice modification do make the program more enjoyable, for some.
Conclusion
Now more than ever, we are in a time where technology is a rapidly growing part of our daily lives. Technology is no longer an option and many fear for the future of our society as technology continues to advance and expand. While there are many that embrace these changes and innovations with open arms, there are even more wary about the increasing involvement and dependence we have on it. There are some people arguing that although Alexa’s changes are effective and accurate, it is much more cute than creepy. There are some benefits and comforts with being able to distinguish between man and machine. These modifications may just add more concern than comfort when you hear whispers in the night or she falls into the hands of the wrong person. As media has shown us, as technology is becoming more human, it is becoming harder for people to tell the difference between fantasy and reality. These updates may be a one-way ticket to a “Her” incident (if it hasn’t already).
Whether or not you are supportive of it, technology is here to stay. We are now crossing the blurry lines of whether or not we “can” do something and whether or not we should. In the near future, we might not even be able to tell the difference of an AI and a human walking on the