If you’re weary of saying “Alexa” to get your smart speaker’s awareness, or if Amazon’s voice assistant supports thinking you’ve reached on it when you haven’t, it might be time to try a new name.
Perhaps you’d prefer to invoke the assistant’s capabilities with the word “Computer” and mimic life on the Starship Enterprise from the convenience of your home.
Or possibly you’re one of the parents of the 6,000 babies called Alexa in 2015 before the AI was a household name (a number that unsurprisingly plummeted to 1,900 by 2019).
Either way, it’s simple to modify the Amazon voice assistant’s wake word, and there are a few different words to choose from. Here’s how you can expel Alexa in favor of a new wake word.
Set your smart speaker in the Alexa app and go to its Settings page to select a new wake word.
CHANGE ALEXA’S NAME / WAKE WORD
You can modify the wake word of any Echo speaker or intelligent display from “Alexa” to “Echo,” “Amazon,” “Ziggy,” or “Computer” for free. (Note: If you are employing a third-party device with Alexa built-in, you may not have the option to change the wake word.)
- Unlock the Alexa app and tap Devices.
- Pick Echo & Alexa from the top row of icons.
- Select the device you want to change the name for. It would help if you switched it individually on each Echo speaker or display.
- Click the Settings icon in the top right-hand corner, scroll down, and choose Wake Word.
- Select your new wake word. (As mentioned before, your options include Computer, Amazon, Echo, or Ziggy.)
The update will take a few moments; you can begin using the new wake word. You can also opt for a superstar wake word, transforming Alexa’s voice. Current options include Hey Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), Hey Samuel (Samuel L. Jackson), and Hey Melissa (Melissa McCarthy). These cost $4.99 to enable.
Next, swipe down from the top of your Echo Show device to access the settings menu or say, “Alexa, change your wake word.”
MODIFY ALEXA’S NAME / WAKE WORD ON THE DEVICE
You can modify the wake word directly on your Echo device by employing voice commands.
- Express, “Alexa, change your wake word.”
- Alexa will communicate, “OK, you can choose from Amazon, Computer, Echo, or Ziggy — which of these do you like?”
- Express “Computer” (or whichever word you want).
- Alexa will communicate, “OK, you can call me ‘Computer’ on this device in a few seconds.”
You can also employ the touchscreen to change the wake word if you keep an Echo Show.
- Swipe from the top of the screen
- Elect Settings
- Scroll down and select Device Options
- Choose Wake Word
- Choose the option you want to utilize on this device
USE ‘HEY DISNEY’ TO TALK TO YOUR ECHO SPEAKER
Later this year, Amazon is launching a Hey Disney custom voice assistant. It will be a yielded skill unless you stay at a Disney Resort. No price has been announced, nor has the exact launch date.
According to Amazon, the custom voice assistant will live alongside Alexa and help with specific Disney Resort questions and provide jokes, fun facts, and over 1,000 “magical interactions” presented by Disney characters. You can sign up here to be notified when it goes live.
Amazon Alexa, also known merely as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology primarily based on a Polish speech synthesizer named Ivona, bought by Amazon in 2013. It was first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio, and Amazon Tap speakers developed by Amazon Lab126.
It can voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, set alarms, stream podcasts, play audiobooks, and provide weather, traffic, sports, and other real-time information, like news.
Alexa can also control many intelligent appliances using itself as a home automation system. In addition, users can extend the Alexa capabilities by installing “skills” (additional functionality developed by third-party vendors, in other settings more commonly called apps) such as weather programs and audio features. It uses automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and other forms of weak AI to perform these tasks.
Most devices with Alexa allow users to activate the device using a wake-word (Alexa or Amazon); other devices (the Amazon mobile app on iOS or Android and Amazon Dash Wand) need the user to click a button to activate Alexa’s listening mode. However, some phones also allow users to say a command, such as “Alexa” or “Alexa wake.”
As of November 2018, Amazon had more than 10,000 employees working on it and related products. In January 2019, Amazon’s devices team announced that they had sold over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices.
In September 2019, Amazon launched many new devices achieving many records while competing with the world’s smart home industry. The new Echo Studio became the first smart speaker with 360 sound and Dolby sound.
Other new devices included an Echo dot with a clock behind the fabric, a new third-generation Amazon Echo, Echo Show 8, a plug-in Echo device, Echo Flex, Alexa built-in wireless earphones, Echo buds, built-in spectacles, Echo frames, and Alexa built-in Ring, and Echo Loop.