Alexa has a new voice — your dead relative’s

Alexa now has a new voice — that of a deceased relative.
During this week's Amazon tech summit, an Echo Dot was propped atop a bedside table and asked to complete a task: "Alexa, can Grandma finish reading me 'The Wizard of Oz'?"

Alexa's usual cheerful voice rang out from the panda-themed smart speaker for kids: "Okay!" The device's robotic twang was replaced by a more human-sounding narrator as it began narrating a scene of the Cowardly Lion begging for courage.

"Instead of Alexa's voice reading the book, it's the kid's grandma's voice," said Rohit Prasad, senior vice president and head scientist of Alexa artificial intelligence, during a keynote speech in Las Vegas on Wednesday. (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.