One sidelight of the coronavirus pandemic is a warning about Alexa. Lawyers working at home are being advised to keep Amazon’s or Google’s voice assistants far away, or better yet, turned off during any phone conversations about client matters. Although the tech giants assure us that these devices don’t listen until they are awakened by “Okay Google” or other voice trigger, they have yet to explain how the devices respond to the voice stimulus if they are not listening. Voice assistants regularly come to life from mistaking spoken words for the woke word: “Seriously” is heard as “Siri.”
Continue reading “Privacy – ha-ha-ha-ha”Tag: artificial intelligence
The World We Know Has Ended
Auto-Tune is ubiquitous in recorded music. If the vocalist is off-key, or the guitar is out of tune, not a problem, Auto-Tune electronically fixes it. It was first used in 1998 to enhance recordings by Kid Rock and Cher. (It became known as the “Cher effect.”) Although singer Michael Bublé is critical of the practice because it makes everyone sound the same – “like robots” – he admits he uses it when recording “pop-oriented” music. Christina Aguilera made a public appearance wearing a T-shirt bearing the legend, “Auto-Tune is for Pussies.” She later admitted she has used it, too. Country stars Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Tim McGraw reportedly use it in live performances.
“I’m not a perfect note hitter either but I’m not going to cover it up with Auto-Tune. Everybody uses it, too. I once asked a studio guy in Toronto, ‘How many people don’t use Auto-Tune?’ and he said, ‘You and Nelly Furtado are the only two people who’ve never used it in here.’” – singer/songwriter Neko Case
Guess what? Robots are starting to take over the composing process as well. A company named Amper has raised money from investors to develop artificial intelligence for making music.
Click here to read more about it. Or just kill yourself. Better yet, spend your music money at local clubs and hear and dance to real live music.