With the number of false or unintended responses from Alexa I'd like to suggest that voice analysis be provided to quantify the Alexa (or other) query word to a specific individual. There have been numerous inappropriate responses as well as improper ordering from Amazon using Echo.
I have personally witnessed a false response when my Echo responded to my TV when a commercial used the Alexa command asking for the weather.
These unintended consequences of this wonderful device may become a litigation issue for Amazon.
I have had an Echo for over two years, and also plenty of Dots around today.
I really believe Amazon has cranked up the sensitivity for listening. I doubt this portends any litigation issues, tho.
The new Dots do hear better.
But the point is valid. Voiceprint validation to even get a command heard is going to become necessary, and for financial services etc to really jump in you'll need voiceprint identification. It won't do at all for some criminal to break into your home, see that Dot on the wall, and be able to say "Alexa, what's my bank balance?" and get a reply.
The criminal would probably just steal the Dot and whatever else he could carry.
I have both gens of Dots, and both hear about the same, and at least one random Dot a day misfires as well as the Echo. This was hardy ever the case a year ago. The sensitivity of the devices has been scaled up since the middle of summer; or perhaps since near-field was enabled.
I doubt voice profile would ever happen; what happens if you have guests over who try to use it? Non-action would not be a good selling point for the devices. Most people who buy the devices today saw (and used) one in action.
Completely disagree. The first thing all my guests are asking when they see it in action is whether it can be secured to their voices. The last thing anyone wants is for some wisea$$ visitor kid to say "Alexa, what's my bank balance?" Or "alexa, turn off all lights" and have it actually fulfill the command.
It will become even more popular when it can be adequately secured. And the natural path is voice pattern recognition. In fact they are working on it now. You'd likely have the option of leaving it unsecured, but that's just not a good idea nowadays.
so guests tell it to turn off all lights??? no different than guests turning off the light switches. besides, use a name that is difficult to guess when you want to be able to turn off all lights at once.
as far as recognizing voices. It would be a filtering and programing nightmare when alexa must able to follow commands where there is a lot of background noise. there is also a good percentage of family members whose voices are very similar. I dont think the technology is there yet for home use.
Alexa already has trouble understanding what some people say. I know that sometimes my Echo Dot would light up and start to listen to my request and then completely ignore me at the end. Example from just a few moments ago. I asked for a simple calculation "Alexa, what is 20 times .15?" and was completely ignored. I was sitting only 3 feet away from the Echo Dot and there was very little noise besides the clacking of me typing.
Imagine if Alexa had to determine it's my voice speaking before even trying to sort out what I'm asking for.
It would be nice to have that, but I just don't think the technology is quite there yet in a consumer product. For military or 007-type installations, I'm sure they've already gone way beyond that.
Actually, in order for Alexa to follow your commands it already has to track YOUR VOICE among the din.
Adding voice verification upon uttering the catchphrase is not that big a deal. I mean it is to scale it that big, but the tech already exists.
There are two paths: voice verification, and voice ID/recognition. The former would be used with, say, a command to open the garage; any of the following X voices can issue the command, any other voice will be ignored. The latter would be used with calendars or accounts; "alexa, add meeting with my boss to the 1/22 calendar at 10am" would put it on MY calendar and not on anyone else's calendar.
Google already has it on their phones. Within two years they will have it on their Home device... and it will also be on Alexa by then.