Amazon's Alexa could soon speak in a dead relative's voice

Do you miss the sound of a dead relative's voice? Well fear not: Amazon unveiled a new feature in the works for its virtual assistant Alexa that can read aloud in a deceased loved one's voice based on a short recording of the person. "While AI can't eliminate that pain of loss, it can definitely make their memories last," said Rohit Prasad, senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa, on Wednesday at Amazon's re:MARS conference in Las Vegas. In a video played at the event, an Amazon Echo Dot is asked: "Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me'The Wizard of Oz'?" "Instead of Alexa's voice reading the book, it's the kid's grandma's voice," Prasad said. "We had to learn to produce a high quality voice with less than a minute of recording."