Imagine a world where you could wake up in the morning and say, “Amit ji, play a song from Kabhie Kabhie” and Mr. Bachchan not only responds to your request but also shares an interesting behind-the-scenes anecdote about the song. Or you could say, “Amit ji, it’s my birthday” and he wishes you in his own unique style. This vision is now a reality with the launch of India’s first celebrity voice feature on Alexa with the iconic voice of none other than Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. All you have to do is say, “Alexa, introduce me to Amitabh Bachchan” and purchase this first-of-its-kind interactive voice experience available for an introductory price of INR 149 for one year. You can interact with Mr. Bachchan’s voice on your Echo devices as well as on the Amazon shopping app (Android only).
'Amit ji’ – a digital persona of content handpicked by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan
Why Mr. Bachchan as the first ever celebrity voice interaction for India? “The answer is that there was really no other choice,” says Puneesh Kumar, Country Leader for Alexa, Amazon India. “With the complexity that is inherent in India, we had to find someone whose persona cuts across all barriers. A person who caused equal excitement among audiences, whether they are older or very young. Someone who is relevant across the country, whose voice was distinct and created a positive emotion. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan was really the only choice .”
Creating ‘Amit ji’ – what it entailed
Just as it is with Alexa, Mr. Bachchan’s digital persona and voice learn from every interaction with you, making it more meaningful and personal over time. The experience is created with AI, using deep learning and deep neural network based models and text to speech (TTS). This means that rather than just being a series of recorded responses, the technology captures the characteristics of Mr. Bachchan’s voice, including the personality and style of speaking and learns new and appropriate responses as you interact.
The launch is the culmination of a herculean effort by the a team spread across seven time zones and representing multiple disciplines. Due to the pandemic, the entire project right from the inception, early discussion and execution happened virtually, including the recordings. Mr. Bachchan’s personal involvement in the project to ensure that the experience reflects his authentic personality was extremely valuable.
Getting started with Amit Ji’s voice on Alexa
To enable this feature and start conversations with Amit ji’s voice, you need to be “introduced” by Alexa.
Here’s how:
- Say “Alexa, introduce me to Amitabh Bachchan” and listen to the instructions
- Confirm your purchase
- Say “Alexa, enable Amit ji wake word” on Echo devices to enable this feature
- On your Amazon shopping app (Android only), visit the Alexa section in the settings tab and enable “Amit ji” wake word
- Ask Amit ji for music, poetry, joke, tongue twisters, and more
- You can also ask “Amit ji, what can you do?” to explore more
- Visit www.amazon.in/amitji to learn more
Once setup, you can simply ask ‘Amit ji’ to inspire, entertain and cheer you every day. Amit ji’s voice experience today understands the same languages that Alexa can on your compatible devices. On your Echo devices, you can interact with Alexa and Amit ji in English, Hindi or both. To change the language, go to the device settings on your Alexa app or just say “Alexa, speak in Hindi” to your Echo device. On the Amazon shopping app, Amit ji and Alexa can interact in English only at launch.
For more information go to https://www.amazon.in/amitji
