Hey Alexa, get out of my house.
Alexa users were flabbergasted after Amazon’s AI-powered assistant’s voice automatically changed sans their permission — with many comparing it to an overly talkative “teenage girl.”
“The chattiness is a bit too much,” griped one fed-up user on Reddit, while another wrote, “I can’t take it.”
The voice is part of the Alexa+ upgrade, which was launched early last year.
“Conversations with Alexa+ feel expansive and natural,” The e-commerce giant described on their site. “Whether you’re speaking in half-formed thoughts, using colloquial expressions, or exploring complex ideas, Alexa+ understands what you mean, and responds like a trusted assistant.”
They added, “It feels less like interacting with technology, and more like engaging with an insightful friend.”
And while the original updated as rolled out as an optional free update for Prime subscribers, it’s now being launched in people’s Echo devices without their go-ahead — like something out of a dystopian sci-fi flick.
“As a Prime member, you get Alexa+ for free, and we will update the devices registered to this account to the new, conversational, and more delightful Alexa experience,” the email reads. “The upgrade takes just a few minutes and won’t require any action from you.”
Alexa customers were none too pleased with this technological force-feeding, nor the grating teenage voice that came with it.
“Absolutely hate it. The female voices are basically all the same, no variation in age,” griped one Redditor. “It sounds like I’m talking to a teenage girl, wayyyy too peppy for me at 6 o’clock in the morning. Strongly debating going to a different brand entirely, Google vs Apple.”
“Yesterday it converted to the Alexa plus version (without prompting) and scared the s–t out of me when a peppy voice started talking,” griped another. “When I asked Alexa to change back to her original voice, she went on for three minutes about how she was already in her original voice. Too much pep, sass, and intrusiveness. I’ll take my robot robotically, please.”
A third complained, “I cussed at her because I had to repeat my request and she said,’My aren’t we salty today.’ Annoying.”
And it’s not just Alexa’s tone that has people up in arms.
“I don’t mind the new voice, but what I don’t like is how it wants to keep chatting when I’m used to just hearing like the weather,” one Amazon subscriber said. “It sticks around listening, and if you make a comment to someone else in the roo,m it responds to that. Just the facts ma’am.”
One decried their lack of choice in the update, cavetching, “They are still forcing it on us. It is a forced update whether we like it or not.”
However, as users pointed out, it’s easy to change the voice for those who aren’t fans of the teeny bopper bot.
Users simply open the Alexa app on your smartphone, select “Devices,” then “Device settings,” whereupon they’ll be able to choose “Alexa’s voice” from a variety of options ranging from “Feminine 3, inviting” to “Masculine 2, warm.”
They can also simply tell the AI-infused bot “Alexa, exit Alexa+” after which the forced update to revert back to the older voice assistant.
