Today, there are different ways you can send or receive text messages ranging from simple alphanumeric format with lively emojis to recorded voice messages. Apple even wants more personalization for text messaging such as borrowing the voice of the sender in reading out text messages.
With Apple’s new patent, the iPhone-maker wants to further improve text messaging by personalizing and using voice profiles. As uncovered by Patently Apple, the filing details how Apple is going to achieve this and possibly implement the technology to iMessage on iPhones in the future.
Voice profile you could share to anyone
The method discussed in the patent purely constitutes the voice for text messaging when receiving messages. However, Apple will instead allow users to share their voice profiles so that the receiving end could hear the read-out text message in the sender’s voice. Presumably, Apple could also let a user play the message in the other person’s voice profile, let’s say of an actor or singer.
The specific process includes capturing a multitude of users’ speech and creating a voice model out of this. Once profiles are available, it is up to the sending party whether to share its voice with the receiver. The latter will then have the option to accept or decline the invitation.
How a personalized voice for text messaging will be useful
As for the actual cases, we can think that this feature will help develop a more dramatic user experience. Ultimately, this removes the extra step of needing to record voice clips if one intends to hear the person’s message or voice.
It is also possible that this will be helpful in instances of automatically hearing messages out loud. Instead of a voice assistant or AI that will read out the message when your phone is locked or away, it is the sender or preferred person you will be hearing immediately. Android Auto has a similar setting to ‘automatically hear messages’.
Should we be afraid of this AI-like feature?
Amazon presented a comparable concept with its Echo smart speakers and displays last year. The giant e-commerce retailer hopes to enable this by using Alexa as an AI assistant to mimic voices of any person the user wants, even a deceased family member.
And with deep fake technology on the rise, would you consider Apple or Amazon’s idea could be useful in the end? Let us your thoughts in the comment section.
