PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 7 (UPI) — A Rhode Island designer introduced gag gifts of the past to the tech of today by wiring Amazon’s virtual personal assistant into a Big Mouth Billy Bass.
Brian Kane, an industrial design instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design, posted a video to Facebook showing what he refers to as “the future” — specifically a singing Big Mouth Billy Bass fish from the 1990s, rewired to mouth along with Alexa, Amazon’s virtual personal assistant.
The video shows Kane ask about the weather, and Alexa answers the question while the fish’s lips move along to the words.
“This was made as an in-class demo on rapid prototyping for my new AI design course at Rhode Island School of Design in the industrial design dept. We’re looking at AI through the lens of artists and designers, to make new experiences for people that are engaging emotionally,” Kane wrote.
