Probably the greatest options of Amazon’s new Alexa Plus is that I don’t must “converse Alexa” anymore. I’ve been testing the voice assistant for a few week now, and it understands what I say, no matter how I say it — there’s no extra want for exact phrasing to get Alexa to do what I would like. This huge shift underpins one other headline function of the revamped generative AI-powered assistant that I’ve been testing: agentic AI. However this one wants work.
The concept is I can speak to Alexa Plus as I might to an actual private assistant and ask it to do duties, equivalent to reserving a restaurant for my good friend’s birthday, discovering an electrician to repair my damaged sprinkler pump, or reserving tickets to a Chris Isaak live performance.
The assistant can then act as an “AI agent” and navigate on-line companies on my behalf to e-book the whole lot for me. Mixed with higher calendar administration and the flexibility to recollect belongings you inform it, Alexa’s agentic AI has the potential to make the assistant rather more helpful.
Alexa’s AI agent options are neither broad sufficient nor seamless sufficient to exchange my real-life private assistant: me
A minimum of in concept. In actuality, it’s too restricted. Alexa Plus depends on partnerships with particular companies; it might’t simply roam the online and do my bidding. As of now, that features Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Uber, and Thumbtack. Whereas impressively, Alexa did handle to finish a number of steps, general, the AI agent’s present options are neither broad sufficient nor seamless sufficient to exchange my real-life private assistant: me.
Alexa Plus continues to be in an Early Entry beta section, and Amazon says extra integrations are coming quickly. These embody ordering groceries by voice (by way of “a number of grocery suppliers within the US”), supply via Grubhub, and reserving spa visits via Vagaro.
These could also be extra helpful to me, particularly grocery ordering. I already use Alexa for my purchasing record, however I then must put the whole lot into my Harris Teeter purchasing app for pickup or supply. If Alexa may take that record and add it to a service like Instacart, it could lower out a piece of labor for me.
Reserving a live performance was largely a easy expertise.
Of the three agentic experiences I examined, the perfect was reserving a ticket to an occasion via Ticketmaster. After a dodgy begin — after I requested about sports activities occasions and was instructed a few youth basketball coaching session — I attempted once more. “What occasions are there in Charleston subsequent month you could purchase me tickets for?”
Alexa produced a listing of about 10 native sports activities occasions and concert events on the Echo Present 15 I used to be utilizing (Alexa Plus is rather more helpful on a screened machine). It instructed me, “You’ve acquired music reveals like Blackberry Smoke and Mike Campbell on August fifth and Collective Soul on August sixth. There’s additionally a Treatment tribute band on August 2nd. Something catch your curiosity?”
I noticed a Chris Isaak live performance within the record (I like a very good Depraved Sport) and instructed it to e-book me tickets. It discovered balcony seats for $98.15 every and requested what number of I wished, whereas additionally exhibiting me costlier choices.
I chosen a budget seats, and it walked me via every step because it added them to my cart, ending with a checkout button the place my bank card particulars had been pre-populated. (I’d linked my Ticketmaster account within the Alexa app after I first arrange Alexa Plus.)
I canceled earlier than buying, as a result of I don’t love a Depraved Sport $200 a lot, and Alexa confirmed that the tickets had been launched. Nevertheless, alarmingly, later that day, a pop-up within the Alexa app instructed me that anybody with entry to my Alexa gadgets can order tickets. Amazon: I’ll take a PIN possibility right here, please.
The assistant acquired all the best way to the checkout and pre-populated my bank card particulars.
Subsequent, I requested Alexa to “e-book a dinner for 2 in downtown Charleston for tomorrow evening at 7PM.” It returned three choices, which is simply unhappy — Charleston has a hopping foodie scene. I picked a French spot I’d been to earlier than and adjusted it up, asking Alexa to “make it for 2 weeks on Friday.” Unfazed, Alexa understood, pivoted and confirmed availability for Friday, July thirty first, at 7PM, then requested if I wished to e-book. After I confirmed, it mentioned it could additionally add the reservation to my linked Gmail calendar. Helpful!
Alexa had tousled the date
Or so I believed. I then obtained a textual content message from OpenTable, confirming my reservation for Thursday, July thirty first. Alexa had tousled the date. I instructed Alexa to modify the reservation to Friday, August 1st, and it did, additionally updating my calendar.
Whereas it will definitely booked the desk, Alexa took longer to do it and was much less correct than if I’d simply opened the OpenTable app on my telephone (or extra realistically, the Resy app that the majority eating places in Charleston use) and accomplished it myself.
Whereas Alexa discovered me an electrician, reserving it wasn’t profitable.
Lastly, I had Alexa deal with a chore I’ve been pushing aside for 2 years: discovering an electrician. I’ve been that means to get the circuit for my sprinkler pump mounted for ages. It’s on the identical one as my web router, so when the pump kicks in, it journeys the circuit — and down goes my Wi-Fi.
The large distinction is that I did all of this hands-free
I instructed Alexa I wanted an electrician to repair the sprinkler system, and requested if it may e-book one. It pulled a listing of a number of “extremely rated electricians” in my space by way of Thumbtack, highlighting the highest three. I picked one and requested it to schedule a go to for per week from now. Alexa requested a number of follow-up questions on my home and the particular situation — it felt a bit like filling out a webform with my voice. Alexa, then mentioned it was engaged on sending the request via the Thumbtack web site, and that I’d get updates quickly.
A couple of hours later, nonetheless no phrase from Alexa. However I obtained an electronic mail from Thumbtack (the primary of many…) and a textual content message from the electrician asking me to name or textual content to schedule an appointment. Not precisely the seamless set-it-and-forget-it expertise I’d hoped for.
Nonetheless, the large distinction is that I did all of this hands-free. I might be organising dinner dates and discovering electricians whereas cooking dinner or folding laundry. As a working mom of two, something that helps with multitasking so I can full my to-do record quicker is welcome. However whereas the tech is spectacular, the dearth of depth and the failures I skilled in two out of my three assessments imply I don’t plan to depend on Alexa to do these duties for me simply but.
Images by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
