George and Gracie: The Robot Voices of BART
When BART trains pull into stations, a robotic and antiquated-sounding voice announces its arrival and destination. Bay Curious listener Jimmy Tobin has long been baffled by these voices. They're hard to understand, he says, and why is it that in the cities pioneering AI and synthesized speech models our own trains are nearly unintelligible?
Additional Resources:
In a Tech Hub Like the Bay Area, Why Do BART Announcements Sound So Ancient?
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