Amazon is making a HUGE change to Alexa’s voice – here’s what it means for your smart assistant

By William On May 31, 2023

Amazon has revealed a huge change that will make interacting with its smart speakers a lot less fun.

The tech giant is retiring all three celebrity voices for its smart speakers: Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy.

Amazon used to offer the superstar voices for $4.99 each as an Alexa alternative, but they are no longer for sale on their website.

Amazon, which released its fifth-generation Echo Dot smart speaker last year, said customers can contact them for a refund.

The feature was only for US users, though the tech giant does offer alternate voices for its smart assistant in the UK, such as Santa Claus.

Amazon, which released its 5th-generation Echo Dot smart speaker (pictured) last year, confirmed it is phasing out celebrity voices. The fun tool allows users to receive audio responses from their Echo device in the voice of their chosen celebrity

The news was first reported by the edge and confirmed to MailOnline in a statement from an Amazon spokesperson.

“After three years, we are phasing out celebrity voices,” an Amazon spokesperson told MailOnline.

“Customers can continue to use these voices for a limited time and can contact our customer service team for a refund.”

Customers who purchased the Jackson voice can continue to use it on their speaker until June 7, while the other two voices last until September 30.

MailOnline asked Amazon if there is an end point for receiving a refund, say if they’ve been using a celebrity’s voice for more than six months.

Amazon introduced celebrity voices in 2019 with the Jackson voice option, which included an explicit mode that sprinkled swear words on comments, much like the actor’s dialogue in famous movies like “Pulp Fiction” and “Snakes on a Plane.”

The company later added voices from former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal and actress Melissa McCarthy as additional options.

Amazon had recorded the voices of three celebrities in sound booths, but instead of just passing the recordings on to users, the tech giant used clever AI technology called neural text-to-speech (NTTS).

By giving the AI the voice recordings of celebrities, it was able to create synthetic speech, barely distinguishable from the real thing – although pre-recorded phrases from the chosen celebrity are also spoken.

The tech giant is withdrawing all three celebrity voices for its smart speakers: actor Samuel L. Jackson, former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal and actress Melissa McCarthy

To use the feature, customers can activate the voice of their chosen celebrity by saying “Hey…” followed by the celebrity’s name.

A celebrity’s voice could set a timer or an alarm, or tell a joke or a story, though they couldn’t do shopping lists, reminders or skills, according to Amazon.

It’s unclear why Amazon decided to discontinue the celebrity voting feature, though reports suggest the Alexa division is rapidly losing money.

According to Alexa, Alexa has suffered operating losses of more than $5 million in recent years the Wall Street Journal.

Amazon users will still be able to choose from several voting options — including US, Australian, UK, Irish, Canadian, and Indian votes — by saying “Alexa, change your voice” or by going to the Alexa app.

However, there is currently no option for regional British accents, despite calls for the tech giant to introduce them.

Alexa was the name of the female voice that originally came from Amazon’s smart speakers, although this has all changed in recent times.

In late 2021, Amazon also began rolling out the male version of its smart assistant voice for UK users.

Amazon’s smart assistant powers the Echo speakers, including the spherical fourth-generation Echo released in fall 2020 (pictured)

There is a short clip of the voice herethat has a generic but robotic English accent.

That year, Amazon also added “Ziggy” as one of its “wake words” — words users can say before a command to make sure the smart assistant is listening.

The four other wake words are Alexa, Computer, Amazon, and Echo.

But to reflect modern gender diversity, users can choose between the male or female voice and use one of the wake words to activate them.

This means that users may be able to start a command with the word “Ziggy” and hear the female voice respond, or say “Alexa” and hear the male voice respond.

Amazon rolls out a man’s voice for its speakers, but insists it’s not called Ziggy (unless you want it to)

In 2021, Amazon introduced a male voice in its smart speakers, following allegations of sexism.

A woman’s voice reinforces the idea that women are “submissive,” the UN had said, and encourages harmful gender bias.

There is a short clip of the voice herethat has a generic but robotic English accent.

Amazon also introduced a new “wake word” (words users can say before a command to make sure the smart assistant is listening).

This new wake word, Ziggy, offers an alternative to the existing wake words – Alexa, Computer, Amazon and Echo.

However, the tech giant has insisted that Ziggy is an additional wake word and not the name of the new male voice option.

Users can choose between the male or female voice and use one of the wake words to activate them, meaning users could potentially launch a command with the word ‘Ziggy’ and hear the female voice respond.

Amazon rolled out ‘Ziggy’ in the summer of 2022 as its fourth wake word for UK users, following an initial rollout for US users last year.

Meanwhile, the male voice option launched in the UK in late 2021, a few months after it was introduced to US users.