A British company has developed an artificial voice that can speak with 'deep human emotion' — and even cry — with complete realism.

The digital helpers that we are used to — like Alexa and Google Assistant — tend to speak in close-to monotones, without real inflection to convey emotion.

While this may suffice for voice assistants, such flat computer-generated voices are unsuitable for applications like producing dialogue for video games or film. 

However, technology developed by the ten-person team at the London-based firm Sonantic allows the creation of authentic-sounding lines of speech in minutes.

The software can imbue its voices with various characteristics — from panic to sadness and even breathlessness.

'We create hyper-realistic artificial voices. Unlike other text-to-speech companies, we specialise in subtleties and nuance, giving voice acting on demand, essentially,' Sonantic chief executive Zeena Qureshi told The Times.

To create each distinct voice, the firm works with actors to record assorted words and sentences spoken with different inflections — from which the AI tool can construct any line as requested for delivery with one of various emotions. 

When a game or film production company uses one of Sonantic's synthetic voices, the actor who helped create such is then given royalties for their contribution.