By now you may have an Amazon Echo device in your home. You may even have 2, 3, or 6.
They’ve become as common as area rugs and throw pillows. Amazon announced this week it
had sold over a half-billion devices since they were introduced in 2014. Yes, Alexa is a
nine-year-old.
Echo devices can be helpful around the house, of course. Ask Alexa for the weather forecast,
and sports scores, to play music, order pizza, play games, or tell jokes. Still, talking to a hockey
puck or a desktop device is a little weird. How many times have you had this conversation?
“Alexa”
“Alexa”
(beep)
“what. is. the. forecast?”
You can speak to Alexa in a more human voice and soon she’ll be answering you in a human
voice of her own.
Amazon announced new Echo devices this week along with some new features for all Alexa
devices.
These include:
● More intuitive answers
● More conversational
● More human-like voice
● Able to control multiple smart home devices at once or with one command.
● Capable of calling emergency services (with a subscription)
● Uses AI similar to Chat GPT that allows Alexa to write songs and poems
In a promotional video released by Amazon, a select few users are seen interacting with the
new Alexa features and it looks very much like having conversations with a roommate. Alexa’s
voice is software without as many hints that it’s a computer-generated voice.
You can see all of the new features here
Amazon says it will be rolling out the new Echo/Alexa features over the next few months. New
Echo devices were also introduced Wednesday and will be available later this fall and next
spring.