Alexa, are you disappointed in me? Amazon’s voice gets more range

Amazon has worked to improve upon its digital assistant’s monotone, and says customer satisfaction with the experience improved in tests of Alexa’s new range. — Bay Area News Group/TNS

Amazon.com Inc is trying to break Alexa away from its robotic monotone, giving developers tools to make the software sound excited or disappointed.

The company rolled out that capability Nov 26 in an update to its market-leading home voice assistant, offering a range of options that take Alexa from quite excited to downright morose. The company said the tool may be useful in congratulating users on trivia wins, or consoling them on a sports team’s loss.