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Amazon Will Let Alexa Developers Use Voice Recognition To Personalize Apps (theverge.com)
Amazon today announced that third-party developers will be able to make use of the Alexa assistant's voice recognition feature to personalize apps for its line of Echo speakers. The news builds on the company's announcement in October that Alexa can now identify individual users' voices to personalize responses. The Verge reports: Until today, that recognition feature only worked for Amazon-built services like shopping lists, flash briefing news updates, and Amazon Music, among other built-in skills. Starting some time in early 2018, however, developers will be able to tap into those voice-based profiles to make apps more personalized to various members of a household. This yet again puts Amazon ahead of rival Google in the smart home and digital assistant fields. In addition to announcing voice recognition for third-party apps, Amazon also revealed today at its re:Invent conference that it's bringing Alexa notifications on Echo speakers to a wider pool of developers starting today.
Fixed the headline
If you are discussing your top secret plans with Alexa you're doing it wrong.
I've been playing with Alexa (the app) for a couple of days and I'm genuinely impressed with the voice recognition capability. Due to lung disease, I have trouble communicating with actual humans over the phone, yet most of what I manage to croak out is recognized by Alexa.
I remember 20 years ago evaluating voice recognition software where you had to train it to your voice, enunciate very slowly and clearly, and it still didn't work very well.
Headline from July 2026: The deathtoll from last year's Laryngitis pandemic has been set at 3.1 Billion. Not only was the disease -- accidentally released by an attempt to genetically engineer self illuminating Christmas Trees -- 93% lethal if not treated, Most victims were unable to summon help because their personal assistants and cell phones were unable to recognize their croaks as valid attempts to log in/summon aid.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
In some jurisdictions I believe that the consent of everyone present is needed if conversations are recorded. I wonder if this means that anyone with one of these devices will need to hang a sign saying audio surveillance is in progress.
Nullius in verba