Alexa Plus is getting a new personality — actually, three of them. Amazon announced Wednesday that it’s adding three styles to its AI productivity assistant, with the idea that you’ll want the app to respond to the type of mood you’re in.
They are three new personality styles they are short, cold and sweet. Short Answers “Short, direct answers.” Cool brings “an easy and relaxed energy to every interaction,” and a selection of sweet ways Alexa Plus acts as “your biggest cheerleader, responding with real warmth and enthusiasm.”
Amazon said Wednesday it wants to make the Alexa assistant more responsive to customers’ emotions.
“Everyone has their own communication style and preferences, and their assistant must adapt to it,” said the statement.
New personality styles are available now on Alexa Plus, free for Amazon Prime subscribers.
Styles are the latest additions that Amazon has added to Alexa Plus, the company launched this month. Alexa Plus is an AI voice assistant designed to help with various tasks, such as answering questions, placing food orders or assisting with smart home automation.
Alexa Plus is one of many AI voice assistants, including Apple Siri, Google Gemini, Samsung Bixby and Josh.ai. Alexa itself was launched in 2014, along with the first Echo smart speaker.
CNET’s Tyler Lacoma spent a year using Alexa Plus and found it “conversational, connected and well-suited for Prime users.”
Amazon said the new personality of Alexa Plus is “built on a foundation of five interconnected dimensions” – expressiveness, emotional openness, organization, direction and humor. Each of these has its scope, for example, “subtle wit to overt sarcasm” of the comedy dimension.
Giving it a test drive: How about the Seahawks?
I haven’t used Alexa since I got the Echo years ago, but I decided to try the newbies on Alexa Plus. I downloaded the app and left with a nice, simple question: “How’s it going?” This is what I found.
Regarding the brief setting, Alexa Plus replied, “Good job, thanks for asking. Just here to help people with whatever they need.” As promised, it’s short and sweet.
For a cool spot, Alexa Plus is back and saying, “Hey Alex! Life is pretty good right now, like catching a good wave on a Tuesday afternoon. Just vibrating through the atmosphere and helping people navigate whatever they’re thinking.” Okay, the second time there, I was taken to the beach in California.
Sweetly, I found out, “Things are great, Alex! I’m full of energy and ready to tackle whatever amazing adventures you have!” Alexa was brilliant this time.
Okay, how about something else that’s true? I asked, “Will the Seahawks win the Super Bowl again next year?” And the answers were:
Summary: “The Seahawks are very well positioned to make another run.”
Cool: “Yo Alex, cosmic vibes look good on your Seahawks, my friend!”
Sweet: “Oh my God, this is really EXCITING news! Your team is in good shape! The Seahawks are the tournament favorites!”
Alexa Plus can obviously set it up very well for these young people, but I expect that the new feature will be tweaked and edited over time. It will be interesting to see the evolution.
Here’s how to try it yourself
To test new Alexa Plus users, first open the Alexa app on your phone. Select the device you use Alexa Plus on, such as your phone or multiple Echo devices.
Under Device Settings, find Alexa Personality Style and select it. You will see the Test Feature window — select Test.
You can scroll left and right for each new and original Alexa. If you click on the big check mark of any personality, you will enable that on the device.
CNET’s Tyler Lacoma said he was surprised by the addition of personality to Alexa Plus.
“In my testing I found that Alexa Plus is very conversational, similar to how ChatGPT describes it, so I’m eager to see how these people can adjust the results,” said Lacoma. “Personally, I would have wandered towards the cooler, as the current version of Alexa Plus can take a long time to explain a recipe or the weather. But those interested in sweet settings should remember that Alexa Plus has happily lied to me before, like promising to do tasks that it can’t do, maybe in an attempt to be again agree.”
