Alexa, can you say Samuel L. Jackson?
According to a new report from Variety, Samuel L. Jackson inked a deal with Amazon to provide the first celebrity voice option for Alexa, the cloud-based digital assistant. Later this year, The Jackson voice pack for Alexa will be made available for an intro price of 99 cents. In addition to that, users can select either clean or explicit modes.
To get things started, Alexa users will simply say, “Alexa, introduce me to Samuel L. Jackson.” After that, users are able to program their digital assistant to set an alarm clock, wish someone a happy birthday and so much more.
“The pace of innovation is incredible and what we can do with machine learning really never ceases to amaze me,” Amazon’s Dave Limp said during Wednesday’s (Sept. 25) keynote. “This same neural network technology, though, gives us a lot more flexibility now and around what we can do with the Alexa voice.”
Throughout Jackson’s career, he has remained true to himself regardless of the numerous opportunities that he’s earned. “I’m the same cat,” he said. “I still got my politics. I still have my anger. But I can’t regulate a bank. I can’t deregulate a bank. I can’t do any of that. It’s been a great revenue stream right now. And because I have that revenue, we’re able to have our names on the f**king wall of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
He continued, “We’re able to give money to the Children’s Defense Fund. We’re able to dig a well in Africa,” he said. “But I don’t run around with a film crew and say, ‘Show everybody what I’m doing.’ I just do what I do. It’s not like we’re just building up a stack of cash somewhere for whatever’s going to happen.”