John Legend voices Google Assistant, won’t utilize new appearance himself: it ‘may be somewhat freaky at home’
Google Assistant clients, prepare to have the velvety voice of John Legend in their home.
The tech organization on Wednesday reported the 40-year-old vocalist as the voice of its virtual assistant temporarily in the U.S.
Legend’s voice will probably give clients the weather forecast, sing upbeat birthday and tell jokes. His voice will likewise disclose to individuals a couple of things about the vocalist’s close to personal life, including about his wife, Chrissy Teigen.
There will likewise be a couple of Easter eggs.
In spite of the fact that Legend uses a Google Assistant with his family, he disclosed to People he likely wouldn’t utilize his very own appearance at home.
“It might be a little weird to use it in my own voice,” Legend told People. “We already use the Google Assistant all the time, and we’ll probably stick with the static voice. Using mine might be a little freaky at home.”
So as to make Legend’s appearance a probability, Google utilized an A.I. innovation called WaveNet to teach the virtual assistant how to sound like Legend himself, so the vocalist didn’t need to record each conceivable answer, Variety announced.
Be that as it may, the “All of Me” vocalist still needed to go into the studio.
“We went to the studio, I think, 10 days in a row where I was saying all types of phrases and sentences and words with different inflections and all kinds of things,” he told People. “Google has some kind of amazing algorithm, but it takes a lot of recording to do that.”
Legend’s voice won’t most likely answer each inquiry, however. Google’s declaration said his appearance may be utilized for “select content.”
One of the customary voices will respond to inquiries outside of that content.
The mode, which can be empowered by advising the virtual assistant to “talk like a Legend,” or to change the voice through settings, will be accessible on any Google Assistant gadget including Google Home smart speakers, Smart Displays and Android and iOS phones.
