Voice In Canada Flash Briefing #383

Hey there, I hope you are doing well. It’s Friday, it’s Teri and here’s your flash briefing for the final work day of the week. So, I was thinking more about how does Alexa actually learn. We all know that they use artificial intelligence, but how is she actually learning from what we say?

And I came across a really cool article and I’m going to do my best here, just to kind of explain a little bit about how she learns. And, I think this is a very cool concept.

I have to first give you an example with Amazon and their general AI on their website, for you to understand this. You know when you write a review, and by the way, if you have written a review for this flash briefing, thank you very much.

If you haven’t, go to VoiceinCanada.ca and just leave a review there. I like that little plug there. That was easy. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. So, when you leave a review, Amazon (their AI) can learn which words have a certain type of sentiment by correlating frequent words that are seen, for example, in five-star reviews.

And that’s how the machine can learn. Now when you think about that in the context of Alexa, how is Alexa learning what you’re saying? Well, you’re not giving any reviews to each of the responses that she gives you, but you are giving some feedback.

So, for example, if Alexa says something, and you don’t like her response, oftentimes we will say, “Alexa stop” or we will rephrase it. And that is a sign to the AI behind Alexa that what it said was not appropriate. It was not what you were looking for.

You’re not giving any reviews to each of the responses that she gives you, but you are giving some feedback.

How Does Amazon Alexa AI Learn

Whereas if you say something and Alexa gives you the full response and you don’t interrupt her, then chances are, you are getting the response that you wanted. And then the computer, the AI behind that response, learns that yes, that is what you wanted.

And then the computer, it’s powerful enough, that it can start to recognize patterns. And when we have, you know, thousands of people, millions of people now using these devices and giving that sort of indirect feedback, that is one of the ways that Alexa learns.

So, I thought that’s really, really interesting. So, there is a little bit of a tidbit for you. Now you know a little bit. Obviously, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but a little bit of how your feedback and the way you interact with Alexa helps to improve the interactions going forward through the use of the AI.

Alright. If you haven’t had a chance to, like I said, to give a review, it would be very much appreciated. VoiceinCanada.ca, you’ll see a red button right in the middle of that page, and any review that you leave, of course, I’ll be very happy to acknowledge that here on the flash briefing, because I want to acknowledge that effort that you put into it.

Hope you enjoy your day and I will talk to you again tomorrow.

Useful Resources

Listen on your Echo Device! Easy as 1-2-3!

Voice in Canada Skill Logo1. Open your Alexa app and click on the Menu button > Settings > Flash Briefing.
2. Click on “Add Content” and search for “Voice in Canada”.
3. Click on “Voice in Canada” and the Enable button.

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