Alexa+: as Amazon plans to make Siri boring with new smarter assistant
IN in the coming weeks and months, update to Amazon‘S Alexa It will be in the hands of customers. Alexa+ is the next step for the assistant of the intelligent house and is exponentially improved – and does it Apple‘S Siri Look at Humdrum in comparison.
In a recent live demo in New York of The Ai-ENHANCED SERVICE that soon arrives at the Eco speakers, Panos Panay, head of Amazon devices and services, revealed the improved assistant, showing ordered characteristics. A few days later, Apple announced that his Siri – sum with Apple Intelligence – which aimed at greater customization and awareness of the context would have been delayed for some time at some time.
In Amazon’s demo, the simple instructions spoken of Panay led Alexa to play a song from a star, without the title of the song being said, then transferred the audio from an Echo speaker to an echo TV. Panay therefore decided not to want to hear the soundtrack and asked Alexa to reproduce the song from the film on the screen. Immediately, he went from audio to the video, reproducing the exact scene.
Demo can go wrong easily, but Alexa+ performed perfectly. As a presenter, Panay is extremely relaxed – or still gives the impression it is. “Believe me, today there were no tricks,” Panay confides me. “I can’t tell you how scared I was.” Technical problems, such as servers or connectivity that played that they could derail everything, were not seen anywhere. The filming of the Panay house, designed to show the ring of the ring in action, were immaculate, despite a local storm that saw the cut trees and current interruptions in the area. “This is the problem of being live, there are no back-ups,” says Panay.
The skills shown by Alexa+ were very impressive. But he seemed even the first steps. “This was an opportunity to reinvigorate Alexa, for those who love it and then those who perhaps don’t do it anymore. It is not a restoration. It is only the beginning of the next generation.”
Alexa+ will be launched in the United States first and international later – it is thought that it should arrive in the United Kingdom by the end of the year. I asked if it would have been for every echo in time? “Not all echo but the majority. On everything we are sending now and all devices in the last five or six years will work and it will be fantastic. Once you are part of Alexa+, it illuminates only all your devices,” says Panay.
The price is $ 19.99 per month, with the UK prices to be followed in due course. This means that it makes more sense to subscribe to Amazon Prime ($ 14.99 per month included Alexa+), which also includes free delivery and access to Amazon’s streaming video streaming services. “I would like every customer who wants to use Alexa is a main member. If you have a privileged subscription, you have a subscription to unlimited photos and your experience is much better, much more personal. You have the main video advantages, you have the main musical advantages, you have the benefits of shopping.
“Our thought was: let’s make sure that the first customers get the best possible value, whatever.
Even without first, Alexa+ will be a personalized experience. It can connect to your calendar and Amazon partners if you need services from them. So, it can contact Grubhub or Uber to make food or car simple, for example.
I ask Panay of The A Star Is Born Moment and I say that I would not have passed to ask Alexa+ to exchange from the audio to the film. How will customers find out how much can Alexa+do?
“What Alexa+ is doing is that it creates a level of discovery that would shock you. Just test it. And then you find it, because it is so natural and conversational and then it will surprise you,” he insists. “By the way, I’m still discovering the characteristics. When I create a random routine and Alexa says:” I will do it, don’t worry, “you are just like, oh my God, I didn’t realize that you could. It’s very nice. I think it is from where the inspiration comes.”
Panay has a disarming modesty mixed with a peaceful trust. He says: “So, will you find a feature? I don’t know. We will work to help discover, we will be proactive. I think customers will discover the characteristics that they would never have thought that they would use, or we would ever marketed.
This seems a big change from personal assistants now, which repeatedly says they don’t have the answer.
“One of the principles we have, but we have not spoken today is that the current Alexa can have many blind alleys. You know, I will say:” I don’t understand it. “Alexa+ will continue to try to solve everything. And then you only have the conversation instead of” I don’t know “.
I ask if Alexa+ is different in terms of what is listening to – after all, one of the hesitations that people have on intelligent speakers is if they are listening to all the time. “He is returning to Wake Word and that’s it. But when he is listening, what is happening on the other side, at the end of Alexa, is so completely different from what we have seen before. He is learning and thinking him while you are talking.”
Ok, so he is still listening to Alexa (or one of the words you can replace if, let’s say, there is a real person called Alexa in your family). But she sounds different. His personality has changed, I wonder?
“We worked a lot on this,” says Panay. “We spent months. We trained it with specialists. We trained for empathy, we trained for humor. And therefore, if you attack, he will try to calm you. If you are nervous, he will try to help you not be. If you are an exuberant and excited, it translates a little mood. You can do some mood. You can do a little bit of a little. ‘Of mood.
The test will be Chiara when Alexa+ arrives in the houses in the coming weeks and months. If the first demo without make-up is something to do, the results could be remarkable-at least we will not only ask Alexa to tell us what time is or to set up a five-minute boiled egg timer.
