Alexa+ has landed on UK soil and, as customers wait in anticipation to try out the AI-powered virtual assistant, it’s a great opportunity to look back.
Since the service launched in the US last spring, it has already seen big changes as customers navigate a new world of assistive intelligence and artificial intelligence. Now, with the service’s arrival in the UK, a lot of naturalization work has also been done to help Alexa+ navigate our regional accents, idioms and cultures, all the way to understanding some of our favorite snacks.
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Rausch says the early results have been somewhat behind the scenes. “Engagement with Alexa+ is two or three times greater than with the original Alexa,” he explains, calmly and confidently as he analyzes the path so far. “Even things I didn’t think could grow, like music, which increases by 25% in terms of streaming time when a customer turns on Alexa+.
“It’s just nicer… It’s not like customers have 25% more time!” he adds, although he is keen to highlight that the overall increase in engagement is largely due to some of the exciting new features enabled by a smarter, faster Alexa. “In the US, I’ll use it to book carpools or we’ll reserve a table for lunch together. All of this is what elevates that level of engagement.”
Of course, everything is never rosy, and even less so with an early access program. Still, Rausch has a positive view of these learnings. “I’ve never shipped a product so easily to report a bug,” he jokes, reflecting on what I can only imagine was a hectic first year of service. “You can just tell Alexa what comments you have, and that helps us know that there’s an edge to sand somewhere.”
A noteworthy example was the new Alexa+ voice and cadence. “Some customers, a minority, don’t like new voices,” says Rausch. Amazon now offers a wider range of voices, and when Alexa+ is introduced, it gives you the ability to change its settings.
Naturally, concerns around always-on devices may remain when it comes to privacy and security, but with 10 years of UK service under his belt, in addition to his years of US coverage, Rausch appears confident in Amazon’s approach. “Clients have the same degree of transparency and control [with Alexa+]…it turns out that if you build products with transparency and control, you generally also comply with all regulations and legal requirements.”
Customers already familiar with Alexa Privacy Hub will be happy to know that the service, with all its features, remains the same for Alexa+. “You can see everything Alexa heard, you can delete things… you can control all your training-related data settings. It’s all in the same place and applies to the Alexa service as a whole.”
While all US Prime customers with compatible devices can now sign up for Alexa+ (or pay a separate $19.99 subscription), for now, the free beta program in the UK is limited to Amazon Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11, Echo Dot Max, and Echo Studio. If you already have one at home, you can sign up for an early access invite now.
It will probably take about the same amount of time for Alexa+ to fully launch in the UK as it does in the US, about a year. At that time, we’ll see the service coming to a wide range of Alexa-enabled devices, including your Fire TV, and will soon be available in a web browser at alexa.co.uk.
