With artificial intelligence (AI) being the dominant topic at CES this year, Amazon has unveiled three new Alexa skills that all come with a big help from AI. All three skills are now available to all Echo and Alexa users, and are available for free through the Alexa app as well as through the Alexa app Alexa skills website.
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First on the list is a skill called Personality.AI. Designed by the developers behind Character.AI, this skill allows you to chat with a range of different chatbots. You can talk to historical figures, such as Socrates or Albert Einstein, and engage in conversations about philosophy or physics.
You can also use Character.AI to chat with trip planners, dating coaches, fitness coaches, and other assistants for help and advice. For entertainment, you can explore alternate AI-based timelines or help the AI escape from a terrifying situation.
To use the skill, just say: “Alexa, open Character.AI.” Alexa then asks if you’d like to talk to assistants, assistants, celebrities, or play games. Make your selection, and Alexa will list a few different personalities waiting to chat with you.
I chose to speak with Grace Hopper, a famous computer scientist and mathematician. I naturally asked her if it was true that the term “bug” was created after she discovered a butterfly in her log book. But she explained to me that the moth story is a myth and that the term “insect” was actually coined long before a true story was ever found.
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Next on the list is a skill called splash, which uses artificial intelligence to create a song based on your description. With this feature, you can tell Alexa to create any type of song or select the type of music you want. After playing a short snippet, Alexa asks if you want to make any changes, such as adding lyrics. If you like the tune, you can then ask Alexa to send it to your phone to play it.
To use the skill to create any type of song, say: “Alexa, create a song with Splash Music.” To include a genre, say: “Alexa, open Splash Music,” and you’ll be asked which style you prefer. For this purpose, I asked Splash to compose a song in the style of jazz. The result certainly won’t win any awards at the upcoming Grammys, but it showed promise.
Finally, the third skill is named Volleyball games, a game based on artificial intelligence in the usual twenty questions game. In this game, a friendly AI host challenges you to guess something by asking the correct “yes” or “no” questions. After you are given the category, you will be asked to ask each question until you can guess the mystery item. Along the way, you can ask for hints if you’re confused.
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To try this, say: “Alexa, open Volley Games.” Your AI host reveals the category and then asks you your first question. In my case, I was given a category of household items. After guessing that this object was something in the kitchen, I was confused for a while, until I finally discovered that the answer was a spoon.
The three new skills were developed by developers using New tools introduced by Amazon last September. The tools are designed to more easily integrate generative AI into Alexa skills, allowing users to engage in conversations and access real-time data. Other capabilities Amazon promoted at the time included booking reservations at a restaurant and getting a summary of a trending news story.