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

PSX surpasses the historical 71,500-point threshold.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Investors celebrated as the PSX finally crossed the historic 71,500 point threshold, signalling a critical turning point in the state of the economy in the country.

The KSE-100 index jumped more than 740 points, soaring to a record high of 71,650 points, demonstrating the tenacity and optimism that pervaded the Pakistani financial market.

This outstanding accomplishment indicates strong growth possibilities for the foreseeable future and demonstrates investors’ faith in the nation’s economic prospects.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)’s KSE-100 index saw a minor decline of 60.92 points on Friday, or 0.09 percent, and ended the day at 70,483.66 points.

In the foreign exchange market, the US dollar lost value in relation to the Pakistani rupee at the same time.

Currency dealers claim that on the first day of the workweek, the value of the US dollar dropped by 11 paisas to Rs278.20 in the interbank market, significantly strengthening the rupee.

Business

Outsourcing: Investors from Turkey stop by the airport in Karachi

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Turkish investors, who are interested in outsourcing Pakistan’s airport industry, sent a high-level team to Karachi Airport.

The domestic arrival and departure lounge at Karachi airport was visited by the Turkish investment group, according to information. The investors were briefed about the workings of the Karachi airport by a delegation of the Civil Aviation Authority, headed by Secretary Aviation Saif Anjum.

An update on the volume of people and business leaving the airport was also provided to Turkish investors. It is anticipated that the delegation would tour the cargo terminal and CAA headquarters today.

The nation’s three main airports, Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, were formerly to be outsourced by the federal government.

Interest in outsourcing three of Pakistan’s airports has been expressed by local parties as well as investors from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Turkiye.

The timeframe for proposal submission for Islamabad International Airport’s outsourcing was extended by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) earlier on March 21.

The government’s top objective in the process of outsourcing international airports, according to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, is openness.

First, he stated that Pakistan is willing to participate in a public-private partnership to outsource a portion of the airport’s commercial activities.

Business

The inaugural flight of Azerbaijan Airlines is between Baku and Karachi.

Published

5 days ago

Farwa

The national airline of Azerbaijan launched direct flights from Baku to Karachi today. There will be two weekly flights on this route, on Thursdays and Sundays.

The first flight will land in Karachi, and Azerbaijan’s ambassador, Khazar Farhadov, will be there to greet it.

This evening also marks the departure of the inaugural flight from Karachi to Baku, in addition to the arrival of the flight from Baku.

Azerbaijan Airlines said last month that it would be growing its network and flight operations in Pakistan.

Aviation insiders have verified that Azerbaijan Airlines is preparing to launch service to Karachi in the coming month of April.

In addition to its current services in Islamabad and Lahore, the airline plans to launch its Karachi route on April 18, with the inaugural flight anticipated to depart on that date.

Azerbaijan Airlines has been given permission to operate flights on the Karachi route, according to sources within the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Following a bilateral agreement between the two nations, Azerbaijan Airlines has been given permission to extend its operations in Pakistan.