Announced back in April, Alexa+ looked to be one of the biggest developments in the AI assistant world. Amazon claimed it would be a whole new experience, assisting the whole family with everything from planning the week to buying tickets for gigs.
Well, now Alexa+ is beginning its rollout. Reviewers are getting their hands on the new experience, and they have some mixed feelings about it.
While we will be giving the service a full run-down in the near future, for now, let’s see what people are saying about the latest AI service to see a public release.
The Street
Opening up an article and seeing the phrase “Alexa has become a glorified timer for many people, and its AI glow-up has not helped” is probably not the best start for Alexa+.
The Street, a financial and tech news website, wasn’t just unsure in their early experiences of using the new system, but seemingly in complete disappointment with it.
“Responses took longer, she got confused more easily, and at one point she responded to a weather question by playing a Pitbull song,” Cody Kline, the author of the article, wrote.
“If this is Amazon's version of 'intelligent,' I'm low-key scared for the future.”
As Kline goes on to point out, Alexa+ is still in its trial phase, and, in theory, most of these problems will go away in the future. But, it's not exactly a good start!
Wirecutter
A less brutal review from Wirecutter, but definitely mixed in its feedback. Kathryn Rath, the author of the article, talks through the improvements to Alexa’s conversational skills, something that was altogether lacking before.
“My conversations with my upgraded Echo Show 8 have been longer than in the past, more layered with back-and-forth banter, and far more involved. Interactions have ranged from basic informational queries, such as for the weather and restaurant info, to nonsensical meme-fodder,” she said.
“For kicks, I asked how many rocks I could eat in a day, and Alexa+ helpfully informed me that eating rocks is bad. I also attempted to trick Alexa+ into believing that two plus two equals five, but it would not be swayed.”
Rath also notes that there have been considerable improvements in the speaker’s ability to pull on previous conversations, a feature that Amazon touted in its announcement of the tech.
She goes on to praise the improvements across the board, showing Alexa has improved in its situational awareness and understanding of more complex requests.
However, for a lot of people, the growth of a personality will be more annoying than beneficial. Alexa+ was previously, let’s be honest, not exactly the smartest of smart assistants. Now, she can sass you and attempt to understand the emotion behind a request.
“My partner asked if Alexa+ could find 'mediocre recipes' for an 'average dinner.’ Alexa+ picked up on his sarcasm and sassed him back, using phrases like “recipes that are the beige wallpaper of the food world,” Rath said.
“In the moment we laughed, but as I’ve sat with the experience, I’ve come to find it increasingly unsettling.”
TechRadar
One positive review and one negative, so what’s up next? Our sister site TechRadar has spent a week with the device and has mixed opinions.
“It's far more conversational, willing to endlessly chat in its default, more natural, dulcet tones. It's jokey but full of useful information, and probably remembers more of what you tell it about yourself than your best friend,” Lance Ulanoff, TechRadar’s Editor at Large, wrote.
However, like many of the other reviews of Alexa+, the article goes on to point out that this is early days and that Alexa+ still has a long way to go before it is here in its official form.
In his week using the device, Ulanoff used the improved version of Alexa to play generative games, analyse his smart home, and get smarter analysis of the news.
Across the seven days, his review is essentially that this is a mixed yet very promising offer from Alexa — a hopeful take for those excited for what is to come.
The Amazon Echo community on Reddit was quick to jump on this one, diving into conversations on the experience of Alexa+.
“I have Prime and upgraded. To be honest, I'm very unhappy with it. The conversation is great, it's much more natural and I can carry on without waking it again. However, many of the functions the old Alexa had are gone now,” said one user, beckerj99.
To be honest, I'm very unhappy with it. The conversation is great, it's much more natural and I can carry on without waking it again. However, many of the functions the old Alexa had are gone now
“I used to be able to tell my Alexa to turn on the fan for 2 hours, and it would. Now it doesn't understand that. I had to make a routine to turn on my fan for 2 hours. Also, it doesn't seem to understand how to shuffle my playlists. I ask it to shuffle ,and it just plays from the beginning, no matter how many times I ask it.”
Other users joined in with the criticism. With another user describing her voice as “super creepy to me,” and that they are using it less and less.
In fact, of the Reddit users on this thread, very few were positive about the experience that they had since upgrading.
Did Amazon release Alexa+ too early?
So, it's a bit of a cloudy picture right now. Sure, Alexa+ is delivering on some of its promises. It is more conversational and seems to work more efficiently than its predecessor.
However, there is still a long way to go until it is a fully functioning system. In fact, based on the opinions of those on Reddit and The Street, it could just be a flop, even with more time.
Hopefully with more time in development, this can become everything Amazon originally promised and more.
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