The Birth of Alexa – A Bigger Step Towards the Advanced Future

What is Alexa?

Alexa is a voice-controlled assistant bought by Amazon. It can play audio, control smart home and so on. It was first seen being used in Amazon echo speaker, echo dot, and echo studio. Alexa is to Amazon what Siri is to apple. Alexa can perform multiple tasks, from waking one up from 7 AM even to singing lullabies to helping you sleep at night.

How does Alexa Work?

One can give orders to Alexa, and the desired outcome will appear the next second. For example, if an individual asks Alexa to play their favourite song, the song will be played. It is mandatory to have an Amazon account in order to be able to use it. Amazon’s Alexa requires a proper internet connection in order to function accordingly.

In order to set up Alexa, follow the steps given below :

1. Download the Alexa app and open it on your android or iPhone.

2. Go to the lower corner, and select devices.

3. Now, click the plus sign that is visible in the top right corner.

4. Add the device.

5. Press on the amazon echo dot icon that appears on the next screen.

“Alexa Works On The Principle Of Artificial Intelligence’’  

Alexa is often believed to be associated with Artificial intelligence. To understand better, one needs to know the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence is the kind of intelligence possessed by the machines concerned with constructing smart machines to accomplish tasks that require human intelligence. Conversational AI systems basically monitor that individuals can interact by having a conversation. Alexa developed the technique to carry content from one query to another without registering to follow up questions. Active learning technology has allowed the system to know areas where help needs to be achieved from a human expert. This reduces the rate of errors in Alexa’s system.

Disadvantages Of Alexa 

1. Alexa sometimes is not able to respond.

2. Slow response.

3. Alexa has some issues with music.

Advantages Of Alexa

1. It is easier to operate.

2. Timers and alerts.

3. Non-stop music.

What Makes Alexa And Google Home Different?

The basic difference arrives with the fact that Alexa is a virtual assistant by Amazon whereas Home is a smart speaker by Google assistant. There are plenty of areas where Alexa is more advanced than that Google Home.  

1. Custom settings: You can create different settings according to how you want the app to function and program it.

2. Security: When it comes to having security at home, you can always count on Alexa when no one is around. You can turn on the Alexa guard on your device.

3. Whisper capability: In the middle of the night, when all you want is to switch off the ray of light that’s falling on your face but you’re unable to do so because of all the lousy feeling. Amazon Alexa has a whisper capability where you can whisper to turn off the lights and Alexa would do so without making any noise.

Likewise, there are areas where Google Home has proved to be better than Amazon Alexa.

1. Just like Alexa has Amazon prime music to stream music, similarly, Google Home has its own assistance–Google Play Music. Although, how Google Home aces over Alexa is that it can connect to Youtube which Alexa cannot.

2. Unlike Alexa, Google Home has the power to understand multiple commands. For instance, say if you ask Google Home to lower the volume and play a song, it will take such a command. On the other hand, Alexa cannot.

3. Google Home has two voices: male and female whereas Alexa does not showcase such a feature. 

However, in the end, India has started to accept the upcoming technological advances and is growing day by day. Eventually, technology has proven to be a boon as well as a bane for the youth. It helps us reconnect with people socially, gives easy access to information and also, creates value. Nevertheless, It has some adverse effects too. It is a major hindrance for individuals of all age groups. Moreover, if it is misused, it has detrimental repercussions like cyberbullying, and cybercrime. After all, “united efforts make technology what it really was meant to be”. 

Written by: Jiya Gurnani