Amazon’s next-generation smart assistant has entered its Early Access program in the UK, marking the European debut of Alexa+ following rollouts in the US, Canada and Mexico. Invitations to start using the smarter, more conversational assistant will be sent to “hundreds of thousands” of interested participants from March 19, Amazon said in a statement, adding that Alexa is the most popular voice assistant in the UK.
As well as its more natural communication, agentic capabilities, contextual awareness and ability to remember past conversations across devices, Amazon users are getting an “authentically British” AI-powered assistant. It understands slang words like “cuppa” and can even accuse you of taking the mic in the middle of a conversation. Can we rule out some anger-inducing Cockney impersonations? Absolutely not. It also makes a difference in how people in the UK say the date – “April 1” – versus how it is said in the US, for example.
Amazon said engineers, linguists and speech scientists worked together at the company’s Cambridge-based tech hub to ensure the voice assistant understands British users, adding that naturally flowing conversations are a key part of the Alexa+ experience.
On the agent side of things, the current lineup of UK partners will include OpenTable and, soon, existing partnerships with services like JustEat, Spotify, Philips and Apple Music. Amazon also receives news by choice Guardian And future publications.
UK-based customers who purchase a new supported Echo device will automatically qualify for Early Access, and you can register to receive an invite if you already have one. You can also try Alexa+ on select Fire TV devices and web browsers.
During the early access period, which lasted about a year in the US before launching last month, Alexa+ will be free, and will remain free for Prime members. This alone will cost £20 per month. As a reminder, Prime costs £9 per month (£95 annually) in the UK, so there’s no point paying more for Alexa+, especially when it’s included in the prime subscription.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-launches-in-the-uk-141058988.html?src=rss.
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