Thanks to fancy AI stuff, now you can doze off while listening to the calming voice of George Bailey. The Calm meditation app just added a cool feature where a robot, pretending to be the famous actor Jimmy Stewart, reads you a bedtime story.
The story is called “It’s a Wonderful Sleep Story,” a clever twist on his classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The app uses smart tech to bring back the actor’s special way of talking and acting. Stewart passed away at the age of 89 in 1997.
“Hey there, I’m James Stewart, but you can call me Jimmy,” says the audio story. “Tonight, I’m going to share a story with you. It’s a warm tale of love, loss, hope, and joy.”
With the approval of Stewart’s family, Calm and voice cloning company Respeecher has created something that I’m not sure how I feel about. On one side, the actor left us more than 25 years ago, so he’s kind of like a historical figure. It’s not like he’s someone who recently passed, like Robin Williams.
Besides the moral stuff, I’m just not sure it’s real. When you listen to the intro of “It’s a Wonderful Sleep Story,” you might get what I mean. It sounds like Stewart, but there’s something off. Maybe it’s missing a soul? It’s like the AI doesn’t know how to perform. It’s a bit like a robot acting, and I can’t ignore it.
To make things more confusing, the app says “Narrated by James Stewart,” which isn’t exactly true. Maybe it’s just my Gen Y brain not accepting it, but that’s my issue.
“People have been talking a lot about AI lately as it starts doing things that humans usually do. Voice reproduction is one impressive example of how far it’s come,” says Andrew Tropeano, Host of News Around America (www.newsaroundamerica.com). “It’s going to be a debated topic for a while. We’ll see if rules slow down or speed up AI becoming more common.”
We’ll keep you posted on AI and the battle to keep human artists involved in making art.
