Indian actor, film producer, and television host Amitabh Bachchan has become the first Indian to lend his voice to Amazon's artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant Alexa. Amazon said Thursday that Bachchan's voice should now be available as a voice option for Alexa users.
Bachchan is considered to be one of the most influential actors in Indian cinema history. He has appeared in more than 200 films and is well known in his homeland and other countries across Asia and the Middle East.
The 78-year-old, who is arguably Bollywood's biggest celebrity, is also known for his deep baritone voice, and almost everyone in India can recognize his voice with their eyes closed. His easily recognizable voice is perfect for Amazon.
Amazon employs other popular voices for its AI assistant, including American actor Samuel L. Jackson, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, actress Melissa McCarthy, and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey. Bachchan will be the first Indian voice on the growing list of Alexa celebrity voices.
Users who want to hear Bachchan's voice can now wake Alexa with the phrase "Amit Ji." Users can also make Bachchan speak either Hindi or English, Amazon said.
T 4003 - Another day .. another beginning .. another connect .. with you .. now on #Alexa .. ask and ye shall hear .. !! @AmazonAlexaIN @amazonIN pic.twitter.com/oSk488Muz6 — Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) August 19, 2021
Alexa spokesperson for India, Puneesh Kumar, said integrating Bachchan's voice was a "labor of love" for developers. The endeavor is also unique as it will effectively be the world's first bilingual celebrity voice. Kumar said it was challenging for them as they had to invent and reinvent new algorithms never before created in speech science, including new speech recognition and neural text-to-speech systems.
Apart from Alexa, Amazon said users can also now add Bachchan's voice to its shopping application on Android devices.
Amazon said it has also added several contents that were handpicked by Bachchan. This includes him narrating stories from his life, tongue twisters, poems by his famous poet father Harivanshrai Bachchan, and motivational quotes.
Bachchan said in a statement that he was very much honored and excited to be "interacting" with Alexa users. He said he is excited to find out how people feel about his presence in their lives through the new medium.
The announcement has received a lot of praise from users in India and Bachchan's fans worldwide. New Delhi-based business professional Mohan Bhargava said he is looking forward to hearing Bachchan's voice greeting him a good morning every day.
