Conversational Smart Home Features : alexa smart home

Amazon announced a set of upgrades for its Alexa Smart Home ecosystem including natural conversational commands, a new AI LLM built into Alexa, the ability to schedule events informally, and the ability to give multiple commands in a single sentence without remembering specific keywords. Previously, Alexa would function by first stating the activation command, then stating a specific vocal instruction based off the bank of phrases that Alexa understands. While this was an acceptable method of controlling a smart home for most, others desired a more informal, natural way of conversing with the home ecosystem.

With the new, updated, LLM-powered Alexa, users can give informal strings of commands such as “Alexa, close all the blinds, turn off all the lights, and start the vacuum.” Or even create informally scheduled events, such as “Alexa, when sun rises, start my coffee maker” rather than giving a specific time, and a specific pre-programmed plug to work off of.

This is a large leap forward for smart home ecosystems that should make them more accessible and appealing to a wide group of consumers who were previously turned off by feature limitations.

Image Credit: Amazon