Your Amazon Echo can now speak to you with Samuel L. Jackson’s voice
Alexa, you sound a little different today
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Have you ever wanted to play rock, paper, scissors with Samuel L. Jackson? Well, now you can, thanks to a newAlexa skill, which lets youchange Alexa’s voiceto bring Jackson’s dulcet tones to your Echo speaker.
The new skill means Jackson can tell you about the weather, sing you a song, and even wake you up in place of your usual alarm – you have a choice of whether you want Jackson to use explicit language or not, too.
As well as that, you can ask Samuel L. Jackson more personal questions about his career and interests.
To equip the skill, open the Alexa app on your smartphone and tablet, and select Skills & Games from the menu. From there, simply search for ‘Samuel L. Jackson - celebrity voice for Alexa’, and open up the Skill detail page. There you should find an option to Enable Skill.
Right now it seems to only be available in the US, and it will set you back $1. That’s part of an introductory offer – after the introductory period ends, it will cost you $4.99.
A welcome change?
The new skill is part ofAmazon’s Celebrity Voice Program, which the company announced at its hardware launch in September.
If you were hoping that you could change your default Alexa voice to Samuel L. Jackson full-time, you’re in for a disappointment – to get started, you need to say “Alexa, introduce me to Samuel L. Jackson”.
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Once you’ve enabled the skill, you have to preface any requests for Jackson with the Alexa wake word – for example, “Alexa, ask Samuel L. Jackson where he is from,” or “Alexa, ask Samuel L. Jackson to sing Happy Birthday”.
Amazon has come under fire in the past for giving Alexa anobjectively female-sounding voice alongside a feminine name– alongsideApple’s Siri,Google Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana.
While that may not sound like a problem at face value, society’s equating of women with voice assistants could have some worrying societal implications. In fact, a May 2019report by UNESCOsuggested that the default use of female-sounding voice assistant in oursmart speakersandsmartphonesperpetuates sexist attitudes towards women, namely that women are docile, subservient, and obliging.
GivingAmazon Echousers the chance to speak with Samuel L. Jackson may not address these issues directly, but it does provide a refreshing change that could lead to new Alexa voices in the future – as well as offering direct competition toJohn Legend’s cameo on Google Assistant devicesthat debuted earlier this year.
Whether Apple will follow suit and furnish Siri with its own celebrity voice remains to be seen, but we’re holding out for a soothing cameo from David Attenborough.
ViaEngadget
Olivia was previously TechRadar’s Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she’s a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She’s previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject of multi-room audio, chaired panel discussions on diversity in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Watch, Top Ten Reviews, Creative Bloq, and Croco Magazine. Olivia now has a career in PR.
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