Amazon rolls out India’s first celebrity voice on Alexa with Amitabh Bachchan
- ByAyushi Ray | August 19, 2021
Amazon India rolls out India’s first celebrity voice on Alexa with Amitabh Bachchan. The company, which rolled out the voice of Samuel Jackson on Alexa in the U.S. in 2019, said users in India can add the Bollywood legend’s voice to their Echo devices or Amazon shopping app for an introductory price of Rs. 149 initially. India’s Megastar in it’s true sense is providing Amazon with stories from his life, a selection of poems from his father, tongue twisters, and motivational quotes. Amazon customers can also ask Alexa to play music, set alarms, get weather updates and get answers in Bachchan’s famous baritone voice. Amazon also said it is also applying neural speech technology to make Alexa sound like Bachchan even if there’s no direct pre-recording.
“Working with Amazon to introduce my voice on Alexa was a new experience in bringing together the magic of voice technology and artistic creativity. I am excited that my well-wishers can now interact with me via this new medium, and I am looking forward to hearing how they feel about this,” said Bachchan in a statement. The company announced its collaboration with a Bollywood legend last year. But the pandemic forced Amazon’s engineering teams to work remotely for this project. There were also additional complications. Globally, users can trigger Alexa with a one-word wake alert. Alexa, do this, for instance. But in the case of Bachchan, Amazon has introduced a two-word wake system to Alexa. “Amit ji.” Introducing Bachchan’s voice is truly a masterstroke for Amazon, as this might motivate more and more Indian users to subscribe and buy Alexa.
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