Now Ask Amazon’s Alexa Follow-Up Questions Without Trigger Words

Amazon Echo users in the US will find their Alexa becoming less chatty from this week onwards.

Amazon Echo devices are powered by the Alexa voice assistant.  

(Photo: The Quint)

Amazon Echo users will now be able to ask Alexa follow-up questions without using the trigger word ‘Alexa’. The new feature is being rolled out for users in the US and UK this week, and will most likely hit the Indian markets in the coming months.

The update also ensures that the Echo device in your room doesn’t give you the shivers by laughing involuntarily or registering the wrong command. While this isn’t a big improvement on what users have already but experienced with the device, it’s a change in the right direction alright.

I’ve always felt that the use of trigger words all the time before asking Echo for an answer was a repetitive and redundant process.

This update will ensure that your Echo Dot/Echo remains active for about five seconds for you to continue with your conversation with the device. Users will identify the state of the device (sleep or active) by a flickering blue light at the top.

These changes might have been forced on Amazon after the recent episode with Alexa, where it went bonkers for no reason. Asked about what possibly could have triggered Alexas across the world to laugh, Amazon stated that it is likely that the Echo might have misinterpreted commands, thinking the users asked it to laugh. To make this go away, they’ve even changed the go-to Alexa command from Alexa, laugh to Alexa, can you laugh for the users, to which Alexa would now say, Sure I can laugh, instead of laughing straight away.

The Amazon Echo series of devices are openly available in the Indian market, with prices starting from Rs 4,499. Alexa in India has been specifically customised to suit the accent of Indian consumers, and more languages are likely to be added over the course of 2018.

(The Quint has given up the use of plastic plates and spoons. This Earth Hour, what will you #GiveUp to save the planet? Use the hashtag #GiveUp and tag @TheQuint to tell us.)