Amazon Alexa wants you to stop talking to her so much on her 7th birthday

This Saturday, November 6, Alexa blows out her seven candles. The opportunity to review its evolution over time with Tom Taylor, the man behind the evolution of Amazon’s voice assistant, and to take a look at its future, at home and abroad.

If you wish him his birthday this Saturday, Alexa will be happy to say thank you. Amazon’s voice assistant celebrates its seventh anniversary this November 6. The age of reason, one would be tempted to say for a small voice that has largely made its place in homes, smartphones, but also hundreds of thousands of compatible connected devices around the world.

What a long way for this strange synthetic voice that has become so familiar to many, able to initially give you the weather forecast and your agenda until it can now notify you if a package is delivered or if the air quality in your home is not optimal. But Alexa does not intend to stop there and has yet many assets up its virtual sleeve.

10,000 people working for Alexa

It must be said that more than 10,000 people work for Alexa at Amazon around the world, between developers at headquarters or in localization (in fifteen of 15 countries concerned for translation, 70 in attendance), those who write jokes or adapt it to each culture. ” It’s a huge opportunity to be able to count on so many people, but also on external developers and partners, ”Said Tom Taylor, senior vice president at the head of Alexa and Echo devices.

And all this dense ecosystem has allowed Alexa to mature, grow and diversify. “ Alexa was born out of the idea that there were several notable changes in AI and machine learning that allowed for significantly improved understanding of language.», Explains Tom Taylor toFrandroid .“We already had simple cases of use for entertainment or timers, and we gradually realized that we no longer had to touch the device, take it out to interact, even being at the other end of the device. the room. Bringing all this together to have easier access to connected objects and technology has been a winning bet. And Amazon loves bold bets. “

Everything was not done in a day, by the admission of the person concerned. “It took a long time to succeed, but we had the solution in our hands. We were driven by the urge to build something different for our clients and figure out how to apply it, what technology would bring real change. He adds. Yes, initially Alexa took care of the music and the organization of the house, the dates, the lights, etc. But now, she sees further with one foot in education, shopping, security, hotels, the automobile or even health.

A very special personality

When asked about Alexa’s strengths, Tom Taylor immediately proclaims “her delicious personality“And its ability to understand our habits:”He’s the kind of person I want to interact with, intelligent, curious, with a bit of a quirky humor, who is trustworthy too. It is not without reason that millions of people say “thank you” or “I love you” so often ”.

Finally, a real person with a marked personality who makes you want to share and give him the keys to his smart home, his daily life and his routines. We also surprise Tom Taylor to switch between the “she“(She / Alexa the person) and the”it“(That / he / the voice assistant – the object / person distinction does not really exist in French), proof if any of the effect caused by this voice assistant with a female name that he owes as much”at the great library of Alexandria in ancient Egypt and in homage to the primary profession of AmazonThan to the complexity of the sound which made it unique as an oral trigger for a vocal assistant.

Able to speak several languages, Alexa must also know how to adapt to different local cultures. Long-term work to avoid odds and misunderstandings, but also to make it as close as possible to users. This is also why Amazon now wants it to be much more proactive. “She must be able to understand that if you program an alarm every day at the same time before getting up to open the connected shutters, after three days, she must offer you this routine to then trigger it automatically, without that you have nothing more to ask him“, Ambitions Tom Taylor.

Please talk to Alexa less

This is one of the next projects for Alexa: to be able to understand yourself and to anticipate. “We want you to talk to Alexa less… so you have more time to yourself. This is why it is important that she understands better and fasterHe slips with a slight smile. Obviously you are not going to turn to Alexa less. She’s the one who needs to understand you better. “There is obviously a double meaning to this. As Alexa expands her possibilities, you should no longer have to ask her what you want. She must understand without me saying anything. It’s up to her to “understand” by studying your habits“.

Get attached to your actions and habits, but also to the sounds of the environment. “But we always want Alexa to be smarter day after day, more competent, more precise and even more enthusiastic in her answers, ”he emphasizes. Announced a few weeks ago, the voice assistant’s AI will be able to spot and identify surrounding noises such as a door closing, a machine that stops, an alarm …

Don’t worry, nothing will happen without your knowledge. “We have data privacy and security requirements. Everything can be deleted at any time from the application and you must give your permission initially for this to be activated ”,recalls Tom Taylor, adding that the Echo devices he also manages have a mute button for the mic or a cover for the camera. But if you give your consent, Alexa will be able to enter a new era, still in beta for the moment.

Able to identify which Xbox is booting

Thus, possibilities have been designed around specific sounds of the house in order to be able to subsequently create routines. “We have always been amazed at the speed with which people took control of Alexa to automate their home automation. We want to go even furtherTom Taylor announces. You can ask for the light to turn on or the music to play if a dog bark is detected. The AI ​​behind this “custom sound” feature can also be trained by learning about your house and its “noises”, warning you if a device does not sound the same as usual, if a package has been dropped off in front of it. your door and turn on the Ring Surveillance Camera, to warn you that the children are home … “or if they are playing Xbox. Alexa will be able to detect that they have started the console and make them an oral announcement to go to their homework instead.», He laughs.

The voice assistant is doing even more things than almost two years ago and much less than tomorrow, in short. Other opportunities are to be expected, we are promised, to make Alexa even more active on our behalf by understanding our functioning and by creating triggers (patterns or sounds), these situations that push her to script actions for us by following. In a way, an extension and a double of ourselves. And in this, Amazon also intends to further develop its range of Echo devices that natively embed Alexa.

Next goal: Alexa on the go

After the arrival of the surveillance robot Astro, of the organizational screen in the form of a table Echo Show 15 or rotary Echo Show 10, the implementation in the interface of its HDMI Fire TV dongle, what is Alexa still missing? “We’re very good at the connected home, it was actually crazy and super fast the way people grabbed it and automated it. Maybe a little less mobile, ”recognizes Tom Taylor. “We made an appearance in the car with Echo Auto so that you find the Alexa environment. We have the Echo Frames (glasses, editor’s note) or the Echo Buds (headphones), or even Alexa in the smartphone. But we would like to find a way not to have to take your smartphone with you. “

Alexa therefore still has some leeway. But not to do anything. For Amazon, the voice assistant should be useful, intuitive, fun and efficient, without going overboard. For this, the Seattle company relies in a way on plurality … “There are things that users expect from Alexa and other names. This is why it is important that there are several assistants, with specificities. The one I am going to seek medical advice from is not necessarily the same one who can answer me for a legal question, if I want to play or if I want sports results either», Underlines the strong man of the house voice assistant. “We do our best to create this world with these multiple assistants, with skills designed by partners to enrich the possibilities of Alexa. “

In France, a 3rd anniversary and lots of projects

If Alexa blows its seven candles all over the world, its French version was introduced in mid-2018. A localized version that allows everyone to have a clear and appropriate answer in the language of Molière (even for jokes that are specific or the songs she sings!). And the hexagonal immersion of the voice assistant is going quite well.

According to Amazon France, Alexa has grown by 50% per year. In 2021, more than 2.4 billion interactions have already been carried out. And it is particularly in demand for music listening with more than 181 million hours of music streamed over the past year.

But more than the growing use of Alexa, it is above all the interest of France that counts. We were thus the first in Europe to take advantage of the possibility of find a vaccination center, a doctor nearby or to check its symptoms by asking Alexa, various functions and soon the integration of the voice assistant as pilot of a connected hotel room, as has already been launched in the United States or the United Kingdom . “France is a country that counts in the deployment of Alexa on a global scale», We are told. “This is good, because it suggests great progress in French“.