Amazon recently revealed that it will discontinue the three available celebrity voices for its Alexa virtual assistant, including Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy. This change will affect both new customers and those who have previously purchased these voices for their Alexa devices.
Introduced back in 2019, the celebrity voices were created using Amazon’s neural text-to-speech model, an advanced machine learning solution designed to generate lifelike and engaging voices with unique personalities. Rather than using prerecorded responses, the model produces voices for a more interactive and entertaining user experience.
Samuel L. Jackson’s voice was the first to debut, offering users the ability to listen to jokes, stories, and even answers to questions in his distinctive style. The highlight of Jackson's voice was the option to choose between an explicit or clean version, allowing fans to enjoy his iconic movie lines, such as the famous quote from “Snakes on a Plane.”
As per the official Amazon page for Samuel L. Jackson’s voice, “Customers who previously purchased the experience may continue to use the skill until April 2023.” However, an Amazon spokesperson has clarified that customers can use the voice through June 7.
In December, Amazon notified customers that it would soon cease supporting Jackson’s voice on Alexa devices such as voice-activated Echo devices, FireTV Cube, and FireTV Omni. Users who have bought Melissa McCarthy and Shaquille O’Neal’s voices will only have them available until September 30, 2022, when the feature will be discontinued on all Alexa devices.
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