Alexa Will Mimic Celebrity Voices, so Asking for a Weather Update Just Got Way More Fun
Updated April 20 2020, 4:11 p.m. ET
Today, during Amazon's fall 2019 hardware event, the company announced that Alexa will be gaining a fun, new superpower. She'll be able to mimic celebrities, and the first one who'll be able to tell you the weather outside or how long it'll take to drive to your parent's house will be...*drumroll please*...Samuel L. Jackson. Samuel's voice is iconic, so it makes sense that Amazon chose the actor as the first celebrity voice Alexa will be able to try on. But that's only the start.
When will Alexa be able to mimic celebrity voices?
According to Engadget, owners of the Amazon Echo will be able to use this new feature later this year (a specific time wasn't specified), and the fun doesn't just stop at Samuel L. Jackson. More celebrity voices will be available in 2020.
But this amazing add-on does come with a price — you'll have to pay 99 cents to transform Alexa into Samuel, and this is apparently a "special price" — Amazon is encouraging users to pay now rather than later in order to save (it'll cost $4.99 in 2020, according to The Verge). It's unclear whether it's 99 cents per month, year, or celebrity.
Wondering if this is appropriate for children who use Alexa? After all, Samuel does curse quite a bit, and who knows? Maybe the other celebrities added will be snarky or tell inappropriate jokes. Engadget reports that there will be two versions of Alexa's celebrity voice. One that's for grown-ups and one that's family-friendly. So no worries if Samuel decides to make some Quentin Tarantino-style jokes when your kid is just asking why the sky is blue.
That's not the only new feature Amazon will be adding.
Alexa will be adding a new multilingual mode for bilingual households (the U.S. is rolling out with Spanish and English, Canada will have French and English, and India will provide Hindi and English), and this is happening next month.
A new feature called "frustration detection" is also rolling out, and it's supposed to detect when Alexa users are getting, well, frustrated. She'll apologize if she's not helping you out, basically.
"Alexa Hunches" is getting an upgrade. According to The Verge, Alexa will detect if something if off about your Echo, like if the battery is running low. Alexa can also suggest setting your alarm or giving you a weather update every morning.
There are some cool new featured for kids: Alexa Communications for Kids mode, which kids can use to communicate with each other by using Alexa. There's also a new Alexa Education Skill API that integrates school software systems parents can use to see how their children are doing in school or what kind of homework was assigned.
If you have people over a lot, a new feature called Alexa Guest Connect will let you connect your Alexa with your guest's Alexa, so they can access all your stuff, like a music playlist (we're sure the security is pretty tight here, so that guests won't be able to, say, go on an Amazon shopping spree). For details on the rest of Amazon's newest features, check them out here!
We just can't wait for Samuel L. Jackson to tell us to "hold on to our butts," or that he's had it with these motherf**king snakes on this motherf**king plane.