Amazon’s new Alexa Plus has a number of new and improved features including smart home upgrades and a more natural, interactive chat experience but one change was just too much for the child of an expert
It’s estimated that over half of the UK’s adult population own a smart speaker, with millions of households playing music and seeking weather or news reports via digital voice assistants.
Many are also now using their voice controlled devices to help with everyday household tasks by controlling their smart home lighting, heating and security technology.
The market is dominated by Amazon’s Echo devices and it has just launched an overhauled version with various upgraded features. One expert spent 24 hours with Alexa+ to see if the improvements were worth it and while they approved of some of the revamped features, a member of their family was very uncomfortable with a major selling point.
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Powered by cutting-edge generative AI, Amazon says its new Alexa is a “complete rearchitecture”. It claims more can be accomplished because the assistant can interact with various apps and services which streamlines task management.
Users can now ask Alexa+ to make purchases, book reservations, and automatically update calendars and send relevant details to those involved.
It is also possible to have a more natural conversation with the assistant as it grasps context and follow-up questions better. Interaction is easier and users can pause, cough or change a request mid-sentence as the assistant can now adapt and understand more.
The Verge’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy put its more human aspect to the test during her 24 hours spent in its company. Over breakfast she had a conversation with it about a subject she’s very passionate about – Wimbledon. She asked Alexa to tell her how the tournament was going and was impressed with its replies.
“We talked back and forth about the championships, with Alexa giving me the lowdown on who was playing today, who were the favourites, as well as some interesting tidbits such as what would be historic about an Alcaraz win on Sunday,” she reported.
However when she asked for the score on the match that was currently taking place, Alexa failed to give the exact sets and game breakdown. Despite this it did tell her that the women’s semi-final was tied at zero sets each.
As well as being able to chat more naturally, the new Plus version has eight different voices. Jennifer described the default setting as “too peppy” so she changed it to “feminine grounded,” which she thought sounded most like the original Alexa.
Although this adjustment helped the self-confessed “traditionalist” reviewer feel more comfortable with her new guest, she said her children, and daughter in particular, struggled with the altered version.
“The biggest shift for my household with Alexa Plus will be getting used to more personality in our AI. My kids are 14 and 17. They’ve basically grown up with Alexa , and this new version is totally different,” she wrote. “My 14-year-old daughter’s first reaction to hearing it was shock. ‘That’s not nice!’ she gasped. ‘The way it talked back to you.'”
She went on to explain that her daughter didn’t think Alexa was being rude, but she struggled with the fact it has more character. “She’s firmly of the opinion that machines should not try to act like humans,” she added.
Jennifer said she’s on the fence with this particular concern but did prefer not having to say ‘Alexa’ all the time to wake the assistant up as conversation flowed more easily.
She also loved being able to control multiple smart home devices with one request. “I told Alexa to turn off the hallway lights, set the thermostat upstairs to 78, and start the vacuum in the kitchen. And it did it all. Excellent Alexa,” she said.
However, she encountered a hiccup when it came to her morning brew. She normally asks Alexa to make a coffee, which triggers a routine that switches on her smart coffee machine to make a particular type of drink. The new Alex Plus replied that it can’t actually make coffee for her.
After spending a day with the new Alexa Plus, Jennifer was on the whole impressed, reporting that despite some slip-ups, it did overall make her life better. She can foresee some difficulties with smart home devices though if the assistant gets any information wrong, such as the weather outside.