Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan will lend his voice to Amazon's virtual assistance Alexa. On Monday, Amazon announced him to be the first Indian actor to voice the tech giant's artificial intelligence gadget.
The 77-year-old actor has been a prominent name in India for nearly about half a century, and his deep baritone voice is instantly recognisable to listeners in the country with 1.3 billion populations.
Foreign firms like Amazon have spent tens of billions of dollars in India in recent times as they fight for the Asian giant's burgeoning digital economy.
In a post for its India blog, Amazon stated that the new feature will be available for Indian users. The new Alexa will provide the audience with jokes, weather updates, motivational quotes, advice, and many more.
"Technology has always given me an opportunity to adapt to new forms. Be it in movies, TV shows, podcasts and now, I am excited to create this voice experience in partnership with Amazon and Alexa," Bachchan stated in the blog post. "With voice technology, we are building something to engage more effectively with my audience and well-wishers."
Amazon devices like the Echo and the Fire TV Stick will as well feature the Bachchan-inspired update. This new quality is a part of Amazon's efforts to broaden its market reach in the international sphere.
Amazon will apply neutral speech technology to make Alexa sound exactly like Bachchan. The Shahenshah actor joins several celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson who have contributed their voices to various tech devices.
