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Now we know that an AI-powered Alexa+ is coming to your Amazon device very soon (assuming you live in the US of course – international release dates are still to be confirmed), we can welcome Amazon back to the virtual assistant race with open arms. Alexa, where have you been?
Despite leading the charge on virtual assistants way back in 2014, Alexa effectively dropped out of the development race for a year or two there while Silicon Valley’s young AI upstarts, like ChatGPT and Gemini, took over the virtual assistant space. While they were adding voice modes and starting to interact with our calendars and inboxes, Alexa was still stuck as being nothing more than a glorified egg timer that could talk.
It’s not like Amazon’s main virtual assistant competitor, Apple’s Siri, has really done anything to take advantage of the stall in Alexa’s development. Apple was equally wrong footed by the AI equivalent of the Cambrian explosion, but at least Apple has made some attempt to get into the AI wars with Apple Intelligence, even if it seems to be endlessly playing catch-up, tied to a yearly release schedule when the rest of the AI market was simply reinventing itself every three months.
Alexa is back, baby
But now Alexa is back, and it’s got a bit of an attitude. One thing I noticed about yesterday’s Alexa+ demo from Amazon was that the presenters, like Amazon Devices lead Panos Panay, frequently referred to Alexa as “her”, and there was absolutely no mention of changing Alexa to a different voice, or even changing “her” gender. (I still find it weird to call an AI either “he” or “she”, so I’m sticking with “it” in this article. Don’t cancel me, please.)
In contrast, when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode, adding a realistic voice for the first time to ChatGPT, it put a lot of effort into showing off all the different voices you could get it to use, half of which are male and half of which are female. Apple’s Siri is also very cosmopolitan. It can talk in multiple accents and offers a choice between male and female voices.
To be clear, I think it’s unlikely that Amazon won’t offer a way to customize the voice of Alexa+ – you can get the current Alexa to change voices by simply saying “Change voice” – but Amazon is clearly trying to present Alexa in a more personal and human way than the other big tech companies have so far with their talking AIs.
Fun to talk to
Not only does Amazon refer to Alexa as “her” but she (damnit, see how easy it is to start thinking of Alexa as a person?) has much more of a personality than the responses you get from ChatGPT, Siri and Gemini. Alexa even makes jokes and throws in funny comments. In the videos of the demo of Alexa+ you can see that she (OK, I give in) sounds light, breezy and fun to talk to:
@techradar ♬ original sound - TechRadar
Alexa+ even manages to crack a joke or two:
@techradar ♬ original sound - TechRadar
Incidentally, talking of changing Alexa voices, Amazon used to offer celebrity voices for Alexa as downloads. The US-only feature cost $4.99 each for Samuel L Jackson, Shaquille O-Neal and Melissa McCarthy, but the company pulled them all in 2023. I would love to have been able to talk to a Samuel L Jackson version of Alexa+ with this enlarged range of responses and attitude. Can you imagine how cool it would be if Samuel L Jackson Alexa+ could channel some of the energy from his movie roles into your Alexa device? Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction telling me what’s on my calendar today and that yes, "I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers", would pump start my day in a way that no amount of caffeine could ever match.
In contrast, talking to ChatGPT or Siri at the moment lacks the same sort of emotional spark that even basic Alexa+ has. They are functional, yes, but not as fun as the direction Amazon is taking Alexa+. By making an AI chatbot with a bit of personality Amazon might have just found a niche that means it can recover from its slow start in the AI arms race. Not to mention that Alexa+ is designed primarily to be on a device that sits in your home, not on a phone in your pocket or a computer at your desk. While that might not be much of a technical difference, the difference in the way you use Alexa+ means you’re in a different location, at a different distance, and ultimately in a different frame of mind when you use it. Nobody is expecting Alexa+ to be able to produce C++ code, for example. Alexa+ is simply there for all the fun things in life like playing music, watching movies and reading your kids a story. Sure, it can do clever things like book a meal at your favorite restaurant and organize your diary, too, but while Apple or OpenAI are going to own the AI in your pocket or at work, it’s looking like Amazon is going to own the AI in your home. I just wish it would bring back the custom voices, so Alexa+ can truly be his or her brother's keeper.