To use Alexa, you just say her name (or "Amazon" or "Echo," your other two "wake word" options) then ask a question or give a command. Unlike mobile-based virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa is centralized within dedicated, in-home Amazon devices - most notably the Amazon Echo, an always-on, always-listening Internet-connected speaker. Still, Alexa manages to set herself apart. There's an array of microphones around the top of the Amazon Echo that can hear you even if you're across the room.Īlexa and other real-life virtual assistants aren't as smart as Ironman's Jarvis (or as frightening as HAL 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey"), but their intended function is largely the same - voice-activated computing powered by artificial intelligence. Chances are you're already familiar with Siri, Cortana, Google Now or Watson - or with any of the countless fictional virtual assistants we've seen portrayed in the last half century or so's worth of sci-fi flicks. What is Alexa, and how does she work?Īlexa is a "virtual assistant," which isn't a new concept in tech. If you want to know more about her, you've come to the right place. In short, we think Alexa is a pretty big deal. She's become such a capable in-home assistant that we've made the Echo a centerpiece (if not the centerpiece) of the CNET Smart Home, the living lab where we test out the modern connected living space. The list of everything that Alexa can do is growing rapidly, too, thanks in part to Amazon's open approach to the software that powers her. Demand for the upcoming Amazon Echo Dot is so high that deliveries are already backed up several months. Alexa doesn't show any signs of slowing down in 2016, either. The Echo is one of Amazon's top-selling gadgets, a frequent sellout, and 2015's most impressive piece of technology, per CNET's own Dan Ackerman. In the less than two years since she debuted as the artificial intelligence housed within the Amazon Echo smart speaker, Amazon's voice-activated virtual assistant has seen her popularity - and her prominence - skyrocket. We spend an awful lot of time talking about Alexa. If you're a regular here on CNET, you might have noticed something:
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