Amazon’s Alexa could turn dead loved ones’ voices into digital assistant

Amazon previously demonstrated how the reanimated voice of an older woman was used to read her grandson a bedtime story. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Amazon plans to let people turn their dead loved ones’ voices into digital assistants, with the company promising the ability to “make the memories last”.

The company is developing technology that will allow its Alexa digital assistant to mimic the voice of anyone it hears from less than a minute of provided audio, Rohit Prasad, its senior vice-president and head scientist, said on Wednesday. He added that during the coronavirus paramedic “so many of us have lost someone we love”.