Our homes today are much smarter than they were 10 years ago. This is thanks in no small part to Alexa. Customers have connected over 400 million smart home devices to Alexa and use Alexa hundreds of millions of times each week to control these devices. We're excited about what we've accomplished so far, but we also believe this is just the beginning and there's much more we can do to make smart homes even better. We combine nearly a decade of invention and customer feedback with the latest advances in generated AI to create homes that are more intuitive, intelligent and convenient than ever before. Introducing the new experience we are bringing to our customers.
intuitive and interactive home
New smart home features | Amazon News
Talking to Alexa has changed the way we control our smart homes, but we still have to remember certain phrases and device names, make multiple requests, and sometimes repeat them. We knew we could make the experience even more intuitive and conversational. Modern large-scale language models (LLMs) make it possible.
Homes are one of the most complex and dynamic built environments. The new Alexa LLM can manage nearly infinite variations and understand how a particular home is configured to trigger the appropriate APIs and actions. Understanding these nuances is important to make Alexa more intuitive. If I say I'm cold, you'll know exactly what to do – turn up the heat – and Alexa can now handle the same level of ambiguity. Just say, “Alexa, I'm cold,” and Alexa will turn up the temperature. Or, say “Alexa, it's too bright in here” and Alexa will dim the lights. Alexa now has a better understanding of context. So when you add a device to your home, just say, “Alexa, turn on the new living room lights,” and Alexa will guess what you mean and act accordingly.
The new LLM also makes Alexa more conversational with new levels of smart home intelligence. Combine multiple requests into one by saying, “Alexa, close all blinds, turn off all lights, and vacuum.” Or, you can set up Alexa routines entirely using your voice, without manual programming in the Alexa app. You can do this by saying something like, “Alexa, turn off the sound machine, open the blinds, turn on the bedroom lights, and make the coffee every morning at 8 a.m.” As if by magic, all of this happens automatically every day at 8am. You can then say, “Alexa, every night at sunset, announce that it's bedtime for the kids, dim the upstairs lights, turn on the porch light, and turn on the bedroom fan.” can.
We encourage you to try these new experiences. It's not always perfect (Alexa makes mistakes). But as always, the experience will continue to improve over time and your feedback will be invaluable. You can request an invitation to try these new smart home controls as part of a free preview. This preview is now available to Alexa customers in the US, with invitations being granted in the coming months.
your own special home
Homes are never homogeneous. The light bulbs are one brand for him, the thermostat is probably another brand, and the lock is yet another brand. We embrace interoperability, are long-time supporters of open standards, and are a founding member of Matter. We've already added Matter support to over 100 million Echo and Eero devices.
We also continue to make tools and APIs publicly available and invent new ways device makers can build with Alexa. He announced two new solutions powered by LLM that make building for Alexa even easier. Device manufacturers can use dynamic controllers to tell Alexa what unique functions their devices can perform. So when you say “Alexa, make this place spooky,” Alexa will guess that you want to set a temporary lighting scene. I also added an action controller. This allows device manufacturers to define simple actions to support on their devices, allowing them to be more conversational when asking for something. For example, when a customer says, “Alexa, the floor is dirty,” Alexa infers that the action is to vacuum. We're already working with GE Cync, Philips, GE Appliances, iRobot, Roborock, and Xiaomi, and device makers can learn more about these announcements and stay up to date on our developer blog.
aggressive house
We want to build technology that works for our customers. Now, it's already becoming a reality, with 40% of smart home actions being initiated by Alexa without the customer having to say anything. Asking Alexa to control your lights is one of the most common requests in smart homes, but imagine what would happen if you didn't have to ask. Soon, using a compatible Echo or motion and ambient light sensor, Alexa will be able to detect the brightness level and activity in a room and intelligently decide whether to turn lights on or off. No more walking into a dark room looking for a light switch or asking Alexa to do it for you.
We're also adding more routines to help you automate your day. Ring Featured Routines provides a list of preset routines in your Ring app that you can turn on based on your preferences, and they also apply to your Ring devices at home. This includes actions like turning off the lights when you set an incoming call alarm to Away mode, turning on the porch light when someone rings the doorbell at night, and having Alexa announce which door opens. included. We're also adding new morning routines that will make waking up more fun for your family. Now you can add new character alarms, daily affirmations, stories, and more to your child's wake-up routine.
easy to control house
Millions of customers have over 20 devices connected to Alexa, and we want to make it as easy as possible to control them. One way the industry has attempted to solve smart home controls is through custom touchscreen panels, but these can be expensive, outdated, and typically require professional installers. To solve this problem, we invented Echo Hub, the first Alexa-enabled smart home control panel that makes connecting and managing your smart devices easier and more intuitive.
There's a lot that can be said about the Echo Hub, but I'll get to the main points. You can place it almost anywhere, including wall-mounting or using the stand accessory to place it on a countertop. Group, manage, and view your smart home devices by asking Alexa or tapping the customizable 8-inch touchscreen. You can also start routines, arm your Ring security system, and view snapshots and live views from multiple cameras at once. When not in use, it becomes an ambient display that shows family photos and information such as the weather and time. As the name suggests, this is also a smart home hub. Echo Hub supports major smart home protocols including Zigbee, Matter, Thread, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Amazon Sidewalk. You can also connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet using a compatible Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) converter. And it's only $179.99.
A home that works hard for you
The Alexa app also introduces a new feature called Map View, which I'm particularly excited about. When customers add devices to Alexa, managing them through a long list can be frustrating. You need to remember which group the device belongs to or its specific name. We wondered if we could make this even easier, and took inspiration from a paradigm that many of our customers use on a daily basis: maps.
Use Map View to build a digital representation of your home's floor plan and anchor your connected devices in each room. You can choose which rooms to add to the map, choose which devices to display, and unpin individual devices at any time. With Maps, you can turn off all the lights downstairs, adjust the temperature, see a live feed from your camera, and see if you've locked your front door all in one tap. You can do it anywhere. You can also access specific device controls. For example, you can tap an office light on the map to adjust its brightness or increase the volume on an Echo device playing music in your living room. We believe using a map of your home to contextualize your devices will help you get the most out of your technology, and this is just the beginning. Map View continues to improve, making your home even smarter over time. It will be available in the U.S. later this year through the Alexa app on his compatible LiDAR-equipped iOS devices, and will be coming to Echo Hub early next year. For more information, please visit amazon.com/mapview.
Introducing Map View | Quickly see and control your smart home
Smart homes have come a long way. We're excited about how generative AI, devices like Echo Hub, and experiences like Map View will make your home smarter and more useful.
We look forward to hearing your opinions.