Business

Amazon’s Alexa is digitally raising the dead

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

“I am haunted.”

This is one of the several reactions on social media to Amazon.com Inc’s Alexa digital assistant impersonating a grandmother reading an excerpt from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

During a company presentation on Wednesday, Alexa chief scientist Rohit Prasad attempted to demonstrate the digital assistant’s humanlike demeanour, Bloomberg reported.

Prasad stated that he was surprised by the companionable relationship users developed with Alexa and wanted to investigate this further. Human characteristics such as “empathy and affect” are essential for establishing trust with others, he said.

Amazon is working on a feature that lets Alexa mimic the voice of dead family members using short voice clips. Yeah, it can read you stories in Grandma's voice. Would you wanna try it or too creepy?

Here's a glimpse at how the feature works (source: Amazon re:MARS keynote) pic.twitter.com/zKjeIdcZkA
— Beebom (@beebomco) June 24, 2022

In the ongoing pandemic, when so many of us have lost someone we love, while AI cannot take away the pain of loss, it can certainly make their memories last, he said.

According to the presentation, Amazon is pitching the service as a tool for digitally raising the dead. In a subsequent interview on the sidelines of Amazon’s re: MARS technology conference in Las Vegas, Prasad clarified that the service was not primarily intended to simulate the voice of dead people.

“It’s not about people who are no longer with you,” he explained. “But it’s about your grandmother; if you want your child to hear grandma’s voice, you can do so if she is unavailable. That is something I would like.”

The creep factor dominated the discussion as the presentation spread across the internet. However, more serious concerns emerged. One was the possibility of using the technology to create deepfakes, which would involve using a legitimate recording to mimic people saying something they hadn’t actually said.

Siwei Lyu, a computer science and engineering professor at the University of Buffalo whose research focuses on deepfakes and digital media forensics, expressed concern about the development.

“There are certainly benefits to Amazon’s voice conversion technologies, but we should be aware of potential misuses,” he said. “For example, a predator can pose as a family member or a friend over the phone to entice unsuspecting victims, and a forged audio recording of a high-level executive commenting on her company’s financial situation could send the stock market haywire.”

While Amazon did not specify when the new Alexa feature would be available, similar technology could make such mischief much easier in the future. Amazon had learned to simulate a voice based on less than a minute of that person’s speech, according to Prasad. Previously, doing so required hours in a studio.

Business

An investigation was “launched” into PTA’s inability to get Rs. 78 billion back from Telcos

Published

14 hours ago

Farwa

The PTA has reportedly been instructed to reply to NAB by July 29. According to the enquiry, the national exchequer has suffered losses as a result of the delay in collecting dues.

The PTA has been asked to provide NAB with information about any pertinent records, court proceedings, and overdue bills. The NAB Karachi has summoned the PTA officials to appear with all pertinent documentation.

All of the principle sum has to be paid by the LDI firms, according to sources. But due to judicial stay orders, the collection of dues has been impeded.

These sources further state that a steering group has been established by the Ministry of IT to supervise the issue of dues recovery.

In a previous event, the tariffs levied on importing cell phones from outside were clarified by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Contrary to what some internet reports claim, PTA clarified in response to recent news regarding the tariffs on mobile phone imports that there hasn’t been a formal decision to remove these levies in Pakistan.

the PTA.Pakistanis living abroad will be the only ones free from these levies, according to the PTA. A SIM card can be inserted and the phone restarted to temporarily register a device for non-PTA mobile subscribers.

Business

Weekly inflation in Pakistan increased by 0.17 percent.

Published

14 hours ago

Farwa

The SPI for the week under review in the aforementioned group was reported at 321.95 points, as opposed to 321.40 points during the previous week, according to the PBS statistics.

The SPI for the combined consumption group saw a 20.09 percent increase in the week under review compared to the same week the previous year.

The weekly SPI includes 51 necessary items for every spending group and 17 urban areas, with a base year of 2015–16 = 100.

The SPI for the lowest consumption category, which is up to Rs 17,732, grew by 0.08 percent from 311.97 points to 312.22 points this past week.

0.18 percent,The index of consumption for the lowest consumption groups, which are Rs 17,732-22,888, Rs 22,889-29,517, Rs 29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175; increased by 0.13 percent, 0.15 percent, 0.18 and 0.19 percent, respectively.

Nineteen (37.25%) of the fifty-one commodities had price increases over the week, eight (15.69%) had price decreases, and twenty-four (47.06%) had unchanged pricing.

On a weekly basis, the following commodities saw significant price decreases: tomatoes (9.19%), onions (2.14%), LPG (1.04%), bananas (0.53%), wheat flour (0.35%), potatoes (0.17%), pulse masoor (0.16%), and bread (0.05%).

Chicken (4.80%), garlic (2.01%), pulse gramme (1.87%), eggs (1.71%), beef (0.93%), gur (0.89%), pulse moong (0.84%), fresh milk (0.45%), firewood (0.23%), and cigarettes (0.12%) were among the items whose average prices increased significantly week over week.

The commodities that saw a year-over-year decline were: wheat flour (31.75%); cooking oil (13.44%); vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (10.42%); vegetable ghee 1 kg (9.85%); mustard oil (8.33%); eggs (5.82%); rice basmati broken (4.15%); and tea package (2.52%).

Gas prices for Q1 (570.00%), onions (96.01%), pulse gramme (40.39%), powered milk (39.11%), garlic (34.61%), pulse moong (29.77%), men’s sandals (25.01%), beef (23.52%), salt powder (23.28%), pulse mash (22.50%), and energy saver (17.96%) were among the commodities whose average prices increased year over year.

Business

The price of gold has drastically dropped in Pakistan.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

As per the All-Pakistan Gems and Jewellers Sarafa Association (APGJSA), the cost of 24-karat gold per tola decreased by Rs 2,300, standing at Rs 250,500.

A kilogramme of 24-karat gold costing Rs1,972 less at the local market, making it worth Rs2114,763. Ten grammes of 22-karat gold had a price decrease to Rs196,866 as well.

After losing a significant $43 during the day, the rate per ounce of gold on the international market also decreased. It currently stands at $2,370.

On Thursday, the price of 24-karat silver also experienced a decline, falling by Rs60 to settle at Rs2,860 petal.