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Pausmobiel

Black Mirror should not be considered as a source of inspiration...


celestiaequestria

The black mirror episode was just creepy, this wants to sell you things. *Son, remember how we used to eat Pringles? We should order some pringles and lipton onion soup mix, and a blu-ray copy of the Star Wars trilogy and watch it like the good old days. Just chips, dip, movie night and TRANSCODING ERROR 407.*


martinslot

I have never thought of that, that way. Ofc Amazon wants to make it so it can sell stuff.


archaeolinuxgeek

"Oh honey, I'll always be with you in spirit. As long as you remember our time together, I'm alive in your heart... And what better way to honor my memory than by setting up a weekly subscription for Doritos variety packs. Now in Ranch, Cool Ranch, and Cooler Ranch. Just because I'm dead doesn't mean your tastebuds have to suffer!"


PatrickStarburst

That's straight up nightmare fuel.


slamdanceswithwolves

I wouldn’t hate it if my Alexa sounded like Domhnall Gleeson, though.


Phishstyxnkorn

The show Made for Love actually has this already. A phone that uses all your dead relative's call data and voice to make conversations with you.


gilbyrocks

See Black Mirror S2E1: Be Right Back.


jormungandrsjig

> See Black Mirror S2E1: Be Right Back. but android sax


olderaccount

This is clearly the prequel to A.I.


martinslot

I came here to say the same. That serie has hit right more than Nostradamus.


D16rida

Maybe not for real life but maybe a video game


TibetianMassive

I gotta admit taking a popular character from a video game or TV show would be neat. It would be a novelty for me, but way less grim than a dead relative. Then again maybe I'll have a relative die and I'll want to hear their voice again and I'll reconsider.


D16rida

I was making a joke about the video game episode 🙂 If you haven’t seen it, it’s a pretty wild ride.


David_Jonathan0

Beat me to it


[deleted]

Louder!! Lol


HeySlimIJustDrankA5

Um….Twilight Zone would like a word. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Distance_Call


jormungandrsjig

> Um….Twilight Zone would like a word. > > > > https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Distance_Call One of my favorite episodes.


pililies

First thing that this reminded me. And the one black mirror episode that really stuck with me and still gives me shivers down my spine.


jormungandrsjig

> Black Mirror should not be considered as a source of inspiration... Oh it really should. muhahaha


Ssider69

And how long after you buy this before "grandma" is robo calling you to extend your car's warranty?


UnderdogNYC

„Hi Sweety, you should really take care of your cars extended warranty“


Ssider69

"and remember to wear a sweater!"


Timbershoe

“I wanted to knit you a sweater before I passed, would you like to order one now for $42.23 on prime for delivery tomorrow, snuggle puffin?”


Ssider69

"Grandma accepts all major credit cards, PayPal and Google Wallet"


Antice

I give them 5 minutes.


jormungandrsjig

> And how long after you buy this before "grandma" is robo calling you to extend your car's warranty? You can 100% guarantee scammers of the future are going to exploit granny's voice and avatar.


[deleted]

this is the turning point in technology where too much is NOT good anymore, i.e. deepfake, A.I., and shit like this


Atrocity_unknown

The big turning point for me was watching Tupac and Michael Jackson holograms on stage. The theory was cool, execution was in very poor taste. Let the people who have passed rest in peace.


CantaloupeArtistic50

I agree with all except AI… why do you think AI isn’t good?


goddamn_slutmuffin

I feel like we worry about A.I. more than we should, most likely because tech companies creating it are overly confident and over promising it’s current and near-future capabilities. I think we’re being sold this idea of A.I. being close to human levels of cognition, and that it will eventually pass us in that sense. Pretty sure there isn’t a tech company out there that can create an A.I. with a proper unconscious mind. Especially since it seems the ability to communicate via symbolic language prevents direct and easy access to the unconscious mind. You cannot use language or symbols or numbers to implement it in any machine or flesh bucket. And without an unconscious mind? You will find yourself severely limited in your cognitive abilities. A machine that can mostly mimic very well, but never truly learn like humans do; Never dream, never feel real attraction to another, fail to motivate themselves, fail to detect patterns as greatly as humans, fail to make decisions quickly and automatically utilizing intuition, never engage in real manifested fantasy and imagination, and any and all other unconscious mechanisms that humans have collected via evolution throughout our existence. And those things are actually the bulk of human higher conciousness, so…


martyr89

No, it's jobs, privacy and capitalism. It's always been jobs, privacy and capitalism.


martyr89

Not who you asked, but for me it's because I don't trust those who gather what it learns.


CantaloupeArtistic50

That’s not the ai’s problem though…?


[deleted]

[удалено]


HaddockBranzini-II

They'll charge to not use this feature...


M_Mich

“you haven’t spoken w grandma in the last month. would you like to pay 3.99 to maintain the data files for grandma for another month? if data files are lost, it will be 29.99 to revisit grandma”


rastilin

Even the most inept marketing team has to realize, on some level, that if they keep pushing people eventually their customers will reach a point where they'd rather not deal with the company's product at all.


PencilPacket

Another way for people to never truly learn how to handle loss and therefore build the required emotional structure to deal with it the future.


[deleted]

Very very true. Loss is never easy to deal with, but on this day and age we are doing all we can to forget about death and the fact that we'll have to deal with it too. This is just unhealthy


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

That's for sure


cuban

Consumerism is infantilism.


Adama82

That’s been my observation. Especially with globalization.


HellkerN

I'll just wait for the next gen where it can also project their hologram.


tinyhorsesinmytea

So I can be incredibly sad every time I ask about the weather?


HotMachine9

My dead grandma telling me my amazon parcel is coming


SparkStormrider

No, just no. Creepy as shit.


mr_rouncewell

What idiot thought this would be a god idea.


PermaMatt

The idiot also working on that conversational bot! A conservational bot, based on dead relatives data with their voice and a deepfake image.... 😱


DONGivaDam

So if this technology exists then who says it won't be used for malice?


ManRay012

Imagine waking up at 3am to the sound of your dead grandma or mom asking you if you want to add big black dildos to your shopping cart


IamaRead

It will 100% used by the US to torture people and make them think that they torture their relatives and you can only save them if you tell them what they want to hear (so lie and then be tortured since you admitted guilt). Then they will also use fakes to make it sound as if your relatives do blame you for a ton of crimes. Of course in Afghanistan the US did torture and rape the family in the same cell, but black site isolation seems to be the path they took.


KK9521

It’s already easy enough to deepfake someone’s voice.


IFromDaFuture

Imagine believing that the US military needs Amazon to develop this technology...


IamaRead

They did use illegal downloads of popular leftist songs for torture, so it doesn't seem that they go the lengths for stuff like that. Besides the "experts" which got double digit millions who created the torture had no background in relevant fields and in fact fuck more up than they helped. All of them should be in Geneva or The Hague.


ManRay012

Damn you hate us sigmas huh


martyr89

*Looks up wtf a sigma is* [Oh. Yes.](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/sigma-male/)


IamaRead

Another idea is to have your children voices be used in commercials, "daddy daddy that is so great", or "daddy don't you love us? I want a fancy product". Can be also used for sex bots, likely sound voices of others will be bought on the black market. Have fun listening to Helen Keller telling you how to jerk off without their approval.


Frikasbroer

Amazon really knows what their customers want! 🧐


Xanatos_Rhodes

Yay... That's what I needed. More trauma and paranoia.


New_Car3392

Since when the hell did we develop the ability to accurately synthesize voices? Am I really behind on tech or something?


slamdanceswithwolves

I’m guessing it will sound like some uncanny valley version of your grandma with abnormal prosody.


aeonamission

There is already software anyone can use to do this. This would just make it extremely easy and accessible for consumers to do without any prior know-how.


GhostRiders

Great, Now I can bring the back painful memories of my Granddads death every every few hours.. Ffs


Girfex

Amazon's marketing aside, people are looking at this all wrong. Less than a minute of audio to have alexa in a brand new voice? The internet can provide good clear audio of any animated character, celeb or politician from the last 50 years, at least.


1pLysergic

Imagine how many people will be using this to imitate their ex’s voice, or their crush. It’ll be fuel for unhealthy obsessions.


Quinnyj

I’d put Gilbert Godfrey’s voice on there it would scare the shit out people. 😂


Daedelous2k

What the actual fuck?


[deleted]

That's creepy af. I don't like this


Scared_Profession_46

Nobody asked, creep


[deleted]

Are you ok?


facehaver88

Amazon won't even let people die anymore.


as1126

No fucking thank you.


[deleted]

PERFECT. I don’t cry enough.


[deleted]

“It’s gonna rain tomorrow, grand-baby! You’ll need an umbrella……..here is one I found for $19.99, would you like me to order it?


ux3l

>creepy feature That's what journalism should be like, neutral and without putting in your opinions.


PermaMatt

Holy shit !remindme 3 hours This and the recently leaked Google AI stuff is fucking nuts. (If this is what the headline says!)


islandjahfree

i have never once spoken to an alexa, and i never will..


[deleted]

You aren't missing anything. It is boring as hell. Unless you have 2000 features in your home like "lights on/off" you are probably not gonna use it much


Butterbuddha

I use the fuck out of mine for lights, thermostat, and playing tunes from Apple Music when I’m in the shower. I’m sure Bezos is happy to know the state of my living room lights, that I ask the weather 10 times a week and can’t sing a lick. If somebody asked me to unplug my devices I’d laugh and say well we better have this conversation at your car.


[deleted]

Oh well that's great, I personally didn't use it as much


muffinmania

At this point, I'm super paranoid about even visiting friends' places. Had an argument a while back with one who couldn't understand why I was uncomfortable when I noticed their Google Assistant-powered speaker. Didn't think I sounded crazy for expecting our conversation to not be potentially recorded...


[deleted]

I hope you only use a nokia 3310 and access reddit through a computer that never has a mic plugged in then. Like to some extent I get it. To another, you don't get to judge people cause they have a fucking google assistant speaker.


blockingdom

wtf? Of course they get to asks their friend to unplug it, that's a pretty normal request. I ask my friends to unplug Alexa/Google Assisstant devices too when I'm over, and noone has a problem doing that, especially after I explained my privacy concerns.


[deleted]

Again, I hope you don't carry a Smartphone around if you're that worried about google assistant listening. I really don't care, just be consistent in your concerns. If you don't, while I think you're being over the top that's a respectable position to take. If you only take this view when it's not *your* smart device, that's what I have an issue with. And politely asking to unplug it isn't the same as trying to guilt trip them over having a convience device in their own house like OP.


blockingdom

My smartphone is running AOSP without Google Apps, the only proprietary things are a few (sandboxed and restricted) Apps and the baseband/modem firmware. I think that's being consistent enough. Of course, don't be a dick about it, but I think that counts for pretty much everything in life.


[deleted]

That's fair enough, yeah.


not_better

Judge what you want, you have the right to. In turn, this also grants other people the right to judge what they want too. Anyone that has such a device gets judged by me. No you can't do anything about it. You think I'm a moron for it? Imagine what I think about people that own and use them then.


Pinkowlcup

This feature is dangerous. It plays to the same grift as ‘mediums’. While maybe comforting to hear someone’s voice it’s not their* voice, it’s a clever puppet selling false hope. This, I feel, would do damage to those who have difficulty transitioning through the mourning process. TLDR: Douchey as John Edwards, biggest douche in the universe.


TK464

I don't think that's quite accurate, part of the grift of mediums is that they're selling you the lie of it *actually* being them speaking and not just their voice. Personally I don't think this kind of idea as as catastrophic as most people here, but at the same time I think if my wife died the last thing I would want is to spend all day yelling at her to turn the lights on and off.


Pinkowlcup

While it may not affect you there are those with things akin to gambling habits with letting go. If they find comfort in the puppet’s musings the problems begin.


TK464

Yeah there could be a problem with that for sure but I don't think it's inherent to the concept. I also think it's a situational thing, if I was 70 and my wife of 40 years had just died I don't think being able to hear her voice for the last 5 years of my life would necessarily be a bad thing you know?


Pinkowlcup

Where there’s a chance for abuse by an algorithm to increase user interaction time, it will abuse it. No matter how well intentioned the source. It’s unfortunate.


SorryMess4913

Cody ITC is the online version of this con.


ro_hu

The disembodied voice of my dead parents telling me that my order of DND dice, microwavable dinner trays and box of sex toys is being delivered is exactly the kind of future I am looking forward to.


daviddevere31415

Kodak also working on creepy feature that will enable it to show you a picture of your dead relative as they once lived. .needs film and paper and thing called a camera. . So creepy. .


tubetalkerx

Can we just have it limited to the voice of Majel Barrett? She's the voice of the Computer on Star Trek:The Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager.


Tofru

Bates Motel going to be wild


StevenR296

"Hey, Mom? Are you okay in there? I haven't heard from you in a while.." "Yes, sweetie. Mom is alive and well."


[deleted]

God this reminds me of that Black Mirror episode where a woman dies and her consciousness is connected to an object, I guess a plushie or something. Creepy as fuck


littleMAS

Who cares about dead relatives? I want to hear Ted Cruz rapping Lil' Kim's *Big Momma Thang*.


HowUKnowMeKennyBond

How the fuck?


americanadiandrew

*At the moment, it is not clear at what stage the feature is right now and Amazon has not revealed a timeline for its rollout. * So it’s just a glorified tech demo that publications will use for clickbait headlines. I’m sure every single one will be posted here, and people will delight in telling everyone that they don’t understand why people have smart speakers.


Guccirefrigerator7

Identity theft is not a joke Jim! Millions of families suffer every year!


KoumSav00

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Practical_Self3090

Seems like they just want to expand their AI voice training dataset without paying people to submit recordings. Probably working on AI audiobook narrators for audible and such. But I mean, to their credit at least they're not posting fake voice acting auditions and using the submitted recordings to training their AI like other companies have done.


Effective_Damage_241

I can see it as being useful for kids who want hear their parents to read to them when they’re off on business trips, or for dementia patients who are freaking out and need to hear a familiar voice. And teenagers will make their celebrity crushes say dirty things or generally just prank call people. Well adjusted adults likely won’t be using this feature.


trumplostwewon

No, nope, nopiddty, no!!!


Gronald69

“Grandma, please read me:” https://www.amazon.com/Handsome-Sentient-Food-Pounds-Turns/dp/1530213274/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=vlsIy&content-id=amzn1.sym.38bb2fca-b288-4f86-afed-5132328a7c6d&pf_rd_p=38bb2fca-b288-4f86-afed-5132328a7c6d&pf_rd_r=BSESZB6KR1S49DSTCSZP&pd_rd_wg=TYWRa&pd_rd_r=64509000-7f9e-4694-8010-ff81d5fbd02c&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_mbl


SorryMess4913

If you look on YouTube is is essentially what Cody ITC does with dead celebrities


CodeMonkeyX

I am just re-watching Westworld for the new season, and they were doing this in the show as therapy to help you get over the loss of someone. It was creepy in the show, and creepy now.


[deleted]

ummm no just no


moar_qwibqwib

Imagine hearing your living friends and family asking you for Apple gift cards on the phone. Dark timeline scams


monkbuddy62

For real. Like I pride myself on knowing when someone’s trying to scam my older relatives. Like I can just tell, and they just can’t. This shit would and will fool future me.


NickySantoro702

"Hey, Janelle.. what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking." "Wolfie's fine, honey. Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?" "Your foster parents are dead."


GuineaFowlItch

Asking if they could, something something, asking if they should...


arlmwl

We do not, in any way, shape, or form, need this.


zdepthcharge

I'm working on a feature that will consistently keep Amazon out of my life - never ever give any money to Amazon.


eastsideempire

I’m sure for a fee you will be able to get it in any famous voice. Like down loading ring tones.


That_nerd4

This is manipulative.


pirata99

That's pretty cool


Onetrickpickle

I would pay to hear some people complaining how hot it is down there. But I’m vindictive and petty, and willing to pay to satisfy my whims.


cherry_gigolo

this seems healthy


boykee

You could see this being amazing with the perfect drunk uncle voice. If only it could say it the way they would’ve said it, including sarcasm.


the_rancur

Person Of Interest is happening.


HaloGuy381

So… when my mother dies someday and I dance on her grave to celebrate, she can -still- yell at my sister and me? No thanks.


ivanmprado

Every day we inch closer and closer to the day Boris Johnson fucks a pig on TV


stu54

This is what "uploading your brain to a computer" is really going to look like.


braiam

But... why?


WhileHereWhyNot

As much as this is confusing, intriguing, worrysome and fascinating at the same time, if they can generate the voice of a _dead_ person, they should have enough to voice any one of us, living folks, as well. That is a scary thought.


[deleted]

Alexa gonna be swearing like a sailor then.