Amazon Alexa
Voice assistant developed by Amazon / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Amazon Alexa?
Summarize this article for a 10 years old
Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa,[2] is a virtual assistant technology largely based on a Polish speech synthesizer named Ivona, bought by Amazon in 2013.[3][4] 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 is capable of natural language processing (NLP) for tasks such as voice interaction, music playback, creating to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, sports, and other real-time information and news.[5] Alexa can also control several smart devices as a home automation system. Alexa capabilities may be extended 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 performs these tasks using automatic speech recognition, NLP, and other forms of weak AI.[6]
 | |
| Developer(s) | Amazon |
|---|---|
| Initial release | November 6, 2014; 8 years ago (2014-11-06) |
| Operating system | Fire OS 5.0 or later, iOS 11.0 or later[1] Android 4.4 or later |
| Platform | Amazon Echo Fire OS iOS Android Linux Windows |
| Available in | English French German Japanese Italian Spanish Portuguese Hindi Arabic |
| Type | Intelligent personal assistant, cloud-based voice service |
| Website | developer |
Most devices with Alexa allow users to activate the device using a wake-word[7] (such as Alexa or Amazon); other devices (such as the Amazon mobile app on iOS or Android and Amazon Dash Wand) require the user to click a button to activate Alexa's listening mode, although, some phones also allow a user to say a command, such as "Alexa" or "Alexa wake".
As of November 2018[update], more than 10,000 Amazon employees worked on Alexa and related products.[8] In January 2019, Amazon's devices team announced that they had sold over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices.[9]
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, Alexa built-in spectacles, Echo frames, an Alexa built-in Ring, and Echo Loop as well as the Echo Show generation.