It is hard to believe that Amazon’s Alexa was first introduced into the market in 2014, since it was only a couple of years ago when the device finally developed massive popularity. And since there was that space in between, the device has only recently started to gain the attention of customers for having glitches or shortcomings. One of the most notable ones came earlier this year where the device emitted laughter sounds at random moments.
However, the latest update from Amazon seems to be targeted to make Alexa every time more similar to a real-life personal assistant. According to Voicebot, the Answer Update feature will come into devices sometime next week and will focus on making Alexa more reliable by giving her more time to answer questions.
A CNET journalist who accessed the feature in advance asked his Alexa device to turn on the Update, to which the AI responded: “OK. If you ask me a question and I don’t know the answer, but I find out later, I’ll notify you.” While the update is still in development and won’t cover every single question, it does present a bright future for Alexa users.
Now, follow-up notifications to unanswered questions will come to customers’ Echo devices. The AI in the device will state that it has “learned the answer” to your previous question. This move by Amazon seems particularly strategic, since customers have been recently pointing out that other devices like Google Assistant might be getting ahead of Amazon in the AI lane.
The update shows that Amazon is still very much aware of how its customers perceive its products, and is always seeking to make Alexa “smarter”.
Featured image via Flickr/Guillermo Fernandes
Caroline Walker
August 7, 2018 at 3:23 am
Crazy how fast AI gadgets for personal use are increasing.