Have you ever wanted to play Rock Paper Scissors with Samuel L. Jackson? Well, now you can, thanks to a new Alexa skill that brings Jackson's sweet tones to your Echo speaker. The new ability means Jackson can talk to you about the weather, sing you a song, and even wake you up from his usual alarm - you can choose whether or not you want Jackson to use explicit language. On top of 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, then select Skills & Games from the menu. From there, simply search for ``Samuel L.Jackson - Celebrity Voice for Alexa''. and open the skill details page. You should find an option to activate the ability. At the moment, it looks like it's only available in the US and will cost you $1. This is part of an introductory offer: once the introductory period is over, it'll cost you $4.99.
The Amazon Echo (2019) (Image credit: Amazon)
A welcome change?
The new ability is part of Amazon's Celebrity Voice program, which the company announced during its hardware launch in September. If you were hoping to switch your default voice from Alexa to Samuel L. Jackson full-time, you're disappointed. To get started, you need to say "Alexa, introduce me to Samuel L. Jackson." Once you've activated the skill, you must precede any request from Jackson with the Alexa wake word, for example, "Alexa, ask Samuel L. Jackson where he came from" or "Alexa, ask Samuel L. Jackson will sing Happy Birthday ". Amazon has been criticized in the past for giving Alexa an objectively female voice along with a female name, alongside Apple's Siri, Google Assistant and Microsoft's Cortana. Although this may not seem like a problem at first glance, the social assimilation of women into voice assistants could have worrying social implications. In fact, a UNESCO report from May 2019 suggested that the default use of the female-sounding voice assistant on our speakers and smartphones perpetuates sexist attitudes towards women, that women are docile, subservient and accommodating. Giving Amazon Echo users the chance to talk to Samuel L. Jackson may not solve these problems directly, but it will bring a refreshing change that could lead to new Alexa voices in the future — all offering direct competition to John Legend's cameo. in Google Assistive Devices that debuted earlier this year. Whether Apple will follow suit and give Siri its own celebrity voice remains to be seen, but we're expecting a mild-mannered cameo from David Attenborough. Via Engadget