Amazon Echo News: Alexa Now Recognizes Multiple Users' Voices; Learn How to Set Up Voice Profiles

By Jessica Ferrera, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, October 14, 2017

Amazon has recently added an updated that will enable artificially intelligent smart assistant Alexa to distinguish between the voices of different users.

The much-awaited update went live earlier this week, according to Tech Crunch, so people using Amazon's Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show and other Alexa-powered devices should expect the newly-added voice recognition feature to arrive on their platforms.

Amazon's latest Alexa update will also mean that Echo products used by various people through their own profiles in the system can expect a more seamless and personalized experience. This is because Alexa is now able to recognize and link a user's voice to his or her profile.

Setting Up Voice Profiles

To start using the new feature, users will should create a Voice Profile. To set this up, they will have to open the Alexa app on their mobile device and proceed to "Settings." They should then select "Your Voice" from the Accounts tab.

In the lower part of the "Your Voice" menu screen, users should find and press the "Begin" button and select the corresponding device. They will then be asked to read 10 sentences -- loud and clear -- so the smart assistant can start recognizing a user's voice.

If an Amazon Echo at home is being used by various family members, they can set up their own Voice Profile by using the Alexa app and then log in with the Amazon account used on the Alexa-powered device.

To add a profile, they must choose the "I'm someone else" option, enter their name, and then repeat the same process for voice recognition.

Perks of Setting Up Voice Profiles

Once these Voice Profiles have been properly added on an Alexa-powered device, users can make a call, send a message, get personalized music recommendations and Flash Briefing news. They can also confirm online purchases mainly with their voices -- without asking Alexa to open a profile first before proceeding to a certain supported task.

For example, when these profiles are set up, the receiver will only need to say "Play my messages" at some point in the day for the AI to read them. This is because aside from Alexa automatically organizing incoming messages, it is now able to determine which Voice Profile is being used.

While Amazon pioneered the consumer smart speaker competition, it is slightly being overtaken by Google in terms of adding advanced features such as the free phone calls and voice recognition. The latter company added voice recognition and the free phone calls in April and August, respectively.

However, to Amazon's credit, they are not letting their competition get too far ahead. The company also added the free phone calls feature late last month.