Issa Rae Lends Her Voice to Google Assistant; Rolling out Today

Google Assistant lets you pick from a number of different voices, but it introduced new celebrity voices into the mix earlier this year – starting with John Legend. Well, Google today announced that comedy-drama series “Insecure” creator Issa Rae is the second celebrity to lend her voice to Google Assistant.

Rae’s celebrity voice for Google Assistant isrolling outnot only for its Android and iOS users but also for Nest home speakers as well. It will only be available in English in the United States for a “limited period of time” to answer a subset of queries.

You will be able to hear Rae’s Google Assistant voice by saying – “Hey Google, talk like Issa” or select it from Assistant settings. You need to navigate to “Assistant settings > Assistant tab > Assistant voice” and find Issa’s voice (as well as portrait and Assistant sample) before the yellow star in the settings page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHRHHQ7Z3aY

Google is employing its well-known WaveNet speech synthesis technology to produce a natural sounding voice without the actors having to spend long hours in the studio. Issa recorded some special responses for queries such as “Hey Google, do you love Daniel or Lawrence more?” or “Hey Google, tell me something awkward.”

Here’s the complete list of commands shared by Google in its blog post –

Well, Google Assistant is adding a new celebrity voice to stay ahead of Alexa, which has since caught up to add itsfirst celebrity voice. Amazon will add more celebrity voices in coming months, but you will have to shell out 99 cents to gain access to each voice.

Anmol

Getting my start with technology journalism back in 2016, I have been working in the industry for over 7 years. Currently, as the Editor of Beebom, I’m leading the coverage on the website. While my expertise lies in Android, Windows, and the apps world, find me reading manga, watching anime, and playing Apex in my free time.

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