One of the best features of the new Alexa Plus from Amazon is that I no longer have to “speak Alexa”. I have been testing the vocal assistant for about a week now, and he understands what I say, whatever I say – there is no need for specific phrasing to bring Alexa to do what I want. This big change underpins another feature Generative assistant overturned on AI That I tested: Aiatic IA. But he needs work.
The idea is that I can speak to Alexa Plus as I would do it to a real personal assistant and ask him to do tasks, as to book a restaurant for my friend’s birthday, find a electrician to repair my broken freelands pump or book tickets for a concert by Chris Isaak.
The assistant can then act as an “AI agent” and navigate in online services on my behalf to reserve everything for me. Combined with Best calendar management and the Ability to remember things As you say, Alexa’s AI agent has the potential to make the assistant much more useful.
Alexa’s AI agent’s features are neither large enough nor transparent enough to replace my real personal assistant: me
At least in theory. In reality, it is too limited. Alexa Plus is based on partnerships with specific services; He can’t just browse the web and make my auctions. For the moment, this includes Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Uber and Thumbtack. Although impressively, Alexa has managed to perform several steps, overall, the current features of the AI agent are neither large enough nor transparent enough to replace my real personal assistant: me.
Alexa Plus is still in a beta phase of early access, and Amazon says that other integrations are coming soon. These include ordering grocery products by voice (via “several grocery suppliers in the United States”), delivery via Grubhub and the reservation of SPA visits through Wave.
These can be more useful for me, in particular grocery control. I already use Alexa for my shopping list, but I must then put everything in my Harris Teeter shopping application for pickup or delivery. If Alexa could take this list and add it to a service like Instacart, it would cut a piece of work for me.
Of the three agent experiences that I tested, the best was to book a ticket for an event via Ticketmaster. After a doubtful departure – when I asked questions about sporting events and that I was told about a basketball training session for young people – I tried. “What events is there in Charleston next month for which you can buy me tickets?”
Alexa has produced a list of around 10 local sporting events and concerts on the Echo 15 show that I used (Alexa Plus is much more useful on a riddled device). He said to me, “You have music shows like Blackberry Smoke and Mike Campbell on August 5 and Collective Soul on August 6. There is also a group of tribute to Cure on August 2. Everything that interests you? ”
I spotted a concert by Chris Isaak in the list (I like a good Nasty game) And told him to reserve tickets for me. He found balcony seats for $ 98.15 each and asked how much I wanted, while showing myself more expensive options.
I selected the cheap seats, and he traveled to me each step because he added them to my basket, ending with a payment button where the details of my credit card were pre-suppliated. (I had linked my Ticketmaster account to the Alexa application when I configured Alexa Plus.)
I canceled before buying because I don’t like a Nasty game $ 200 a lot and Alexa confirmed that tickets had been published. However, alarming, later in the day, a pop-up in the Alexa application told me that anyone With access to my Alexa devices, can order tickets. Amazon: I’ll take a PIN option here, please.
Then, I asked Alexa to “book a dinner for two in downtown Charleston for tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.” He returned three options, which is simply sad – Charleston has a gastronomic scene to jump. I chose a French place that I went before and changed it, asking Alexa to “do it for two weeks on Friday”. Unperturbed, Alexa understood, pivoted and confirmed the availability for Friday July 31 at 7 p.m., then I asked if I wanted to book. After confirming, he said that he would also add the reservation to my Lié Gmail calendar. Practical!
Alexa had spoiled the date
Or I thought. I then received an open SMS, confirming my reservation for THURSDAY, July 31. Alexa had spoiled the date. I told Alexa to reservation on Friday August 1, and this also updated my calendar.
Although he finally reserved the table, Alexa took more time to do it and was less precise than if I had just opened the open application on my phone (or more realistically, the Resy application that most of the Charleston restaurants use) and that I did it myself.
Finally, Alexa tackles a chore that I have been pushing for two years: finding an electrician. I wanted the circuit of my watering pump to be repaired for ages. It is on the same as my internet router, so when the pump comes into play, it triggers the circuit – and descends my Wi -Fi.
The big difference is that I did it all handsome
I told Alexa that I needed an electrician to repair the jet system and asked me if he could book one. He pulled a list of several “very well rated electricians” in my region via Thumbtackhighlighting the first three. I chose one and asked him to plan a visit in a week. Alexa asked several follow -up questions on my house and on the specific problem – it looked a bit like filling a web form with my voice. Alexa, then declared that she was working on sending the request via the Thumbtack website, and that I would have soon received updates.
A few hours later, still no words from Alexa. But I received a Thumbtack email (the first of many …) and an electrician’s SMS asking me to call or send an SMS to make an appointment. Not exactly the flawless experience
However, the big difference is that I did it all handsome. I could install dinner dates and find electricians while preparing a dinner or folding the laundry. As a mother who works with two children, everything that helps in multitasking so that I can complete my list of tasks faster is welcome. But although the technology is impressive, the lack of depth and the failures that I experienced in two of my three tests mean that I do not plan to count on Alexa to do these tasks for me for me.
Photography by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
