Former ‘Top Gear’ Host James May Tests Tesla's Grok-Powered AI Voice Assistant ‘Ara’: ‘It's Slightly Odd...’Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.Former "Top Gear" and "The Grand Tour" host James May has tested Tesla Inc.'s Grok-powered voice assistant in a Model 3, criticizing the AI's attempts to sound human as "insincere and phony."James May Tests Out Tesla's AIIn a video shared on the "James May's Planet Gin" YouTube channel on Sunday, the journalist can be seen having a conversation with the AI voice assistant, which had assumed the "Ara" personality.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe company offers multiple personas, which include Ara, an upbeat female voice, as well as Eve, which is a soothing female voice. The options also include Leo, which is described as a British male voice, while Rex is a calm male voice. Sal, another one of the personas, is described as a smooth male voice.Don't Miss:A single bad hire can set a startup back years. Here are the 5 hires founders most often misjudge — and whyStill Learning the Market? These 50 Must-Know Terms Can Help You Catch Up FastMay tested out several features in his conversation with the voice assistant, including playing a children's trivia game, sarcastically seeking extreme medical advice, asking the voice assistant to switch to a British accent and more.AdvertisementAdvertisementSpeaking to the AI assistant, May said that it appeared that the program had been created by "socially awkward" people and their idea of what a charming person would sound like."It's slightly odd; you don't seem that human," he said. He said that while the engineers and programmers at X were clever, they may be "socially inept," which was why the voice assistant came off as "insincere and phony."'James Bond' As Tesla Driver?The comments come as Tesla's AI Chief Ashok Elluswamy hailed the Full Self-Driving (FSD) system after a video of a Tesla avoiding a collision on the freeway emerged. "You can have James Bond as your personal driver," Elluswamy said via a post on the social media platform X.Trending: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your 'Safe' Holdings Could Be Costing You Big TimeElon Musk Touts Tesla's Domestic ManufacturingMeanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk backed the automaker's domestic manufacturing capabilities, sharing that the company's vehicles were produced in the U.S. with 84% American content. 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