E-commerce giant Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa is being updated by a new feature of hearing whispers and responding it back to the user. Apart from this up gradation, Amazon also introduced voice-enabled Microwave and a virtually assisted wall clock.
This newly introduced feature paces towards an expanded virtual assistant’s capability of listening as well as understanding the world around it. By the end of this year, the customers will be able to confer in whispers with Alexa which is designed to avoid awkward situations in cases such as someone sleeping nearby or in front of patients. Moreover, this feature will empower Alexa to detect trouble-filled noises such as breaking glass or smoke alarm in cases when you are not around.
Amazon’s experts are also working on the experimentation of connecting the virtual assistant with the emotional awareness, which will enable Alexa in listening to a person’s frustration voices. “We are going beyond recognizing words,” said Rohit Prasad, Vice President at Amazon.
Greg Roberts, managing director at Accenture, believes that the AI advancements can be used by Amazon and other AI service providing companies in order to escalate its increasing usage and embracing their assistants.
A survey conducted by Accenture last year showed that about 70 percent of the people had reported that they use their voice assistants more than using their smartphones. Robert said, “Similar to what we saw when smartphones first arrived, people move to the interface that’s easier to use.”
However, there are some people who are cautious about these AI enabled devices. Privacy concerns are said to be one of the main reasons for the same. However, the industry needs to work a little more hard to eradicate such delusions.
