Say anything to Alexa — or don’t say anything at all.
Amazon is making a bunch of changes to the Alexa user experience, all with the same idea in mind: making the virtual assistant easier to use. The most notable is a change in how Alexa handles Routines, which developers can now create and recommend to users instead of requiring you to manually build your own automations.
But Amazon knows that none of Alexa’s flashy new features matter much if you can’t find them or figure out how to use them. And rather than build new UIs or clever voice menus, the Alexa team is increasingly leaning into just making the system do the work for you. “We want to make automation and proactivity available to everybody that interacts with Alexa and the devices that are connected to Alexa because it’s just so delightful,” says Aaron Rubenson, a VP on the Alexa team.
Rubenson says that people who use Routines are some of the stickiest and most consistent Alexa users and that he wants those people to continue to have the knobs they need to build their weirdest and wildest automations. “But we also recognize that not everybody will take that step,” he says.
Along the same lines, Amazon’s also working on a feature called Universal Commands that makes it so an Alexa-running device can do certain critical things no matter which wake word you used. For instance: You could say “Hey Skullcandy, set a timer for 10 minutes,” and Skullcandy’s assistant can’t do that, but Alexa can, so Alexa could handle it automatically.
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