Having a virtual voice assistant at home can be very helpful, especially if you have your hands full most of the time. In fact, they can even save your life. With the Echo speakers, you can call for help, but you'll have to pay the monthly or annual subscription fee for it.
Alexa's Emergency Assist
Amazon's fall event revealed a lot of new features for its smart speakers, one of which is the Emergency Assist which adds to the Alexa Guard. The subscription service will soon be rolled out in the US and will cost $6 monthly or $59 yearly.
The way it works is that users can simply say "Alexa, call for help," and the device will contact first responders for you. The voice prompt will connect you with a "dedicated, professionally trained agent" who is available 24/7, as reported by Engadget.
For a more effective service, the user will need to provide necessary information like their home address, medications, and allergies so that the responders will already have the information at hand. These will be submitted upon signing up for the service.
This can be a helpful service, especially for the elderly or those who live alone. If you already have the Guard Plus plan which costs $5 for the monthly subscription fee, and $50 for the yearly charge, can get the feature for the same price.
The Alexa Guard Plus plan offers a lot more than just quick access to emergency responders. For instance, you can also be alerted to potential emergencies. While you're away and the speaker is active, it can detect suspicious sounds around your home.
Activities like footsteps, glass breaking, or doors closing will prompt the virtual assistant to send you a Smart Alert through mobile notifications. It will also play a siren on your Echo speaker to potentially scare off intruders from your home.
In addition to that, it can detect the sound of smoke alarms or carbon monoxide alarms. The speaker will record the sounds it heard, and you can play back the audio or listen to it live. It can be connected to several devices that can help you keep your home safe and secure.
Generative AI for Alexa
Amazon is also planning to bring generative AI to a new level as they integrate it into the voice assistant's system. The company released a video where people try to test out Alexa's new capabilities with the added AI technology.
For instance, the participants asked Alexa to create a story about balloons and stopped the virtual assistant before it could start and changed the subject to jello. Alexa quickly started telling another story right after the change was prompted.
The people who tried expressed a couple of points where the new AI assistant was better. For instance, they did not have to say "Alexa" every time they needed to say a prompt. With it being more conversational, it can understand its users better even with hesitations and pauses in speech.
