Yandex has launched a temporary feature allowing users to interact with an AI-powered version of Leo Tolstoy. The project, available from September 9 to September 14, enables users to converse with the writer, hear his synthesized voice, and participate in interactive storytelling within his famous works.
To recreate the author's voice, Yandex engineers processed historical audio archives and adapted speech synthesis models to match his specific intonations. Users can initiate the voice conversation in the app or via Yandex Station devices by using the command: 'Alice, call Leo Tolstoy.'
The interactive stories allow users to make decisions for characters, with the neural network generating unique plot developments based on those choices. Additionally, Yandex has added a 3D model of the writer's Moscow estate, Khamovniki, to Yandex Maps.
The initiative is part of a broader collaboration with the Leo Tolstoy State Museum-Reserve. As part of this partnership, Yandex is digitizing the writer's archives, having already processed over 20,000 photographs and categorized them by genre.
