There's a new version of Amazon's Alexa- and this time it's just for kids.
As well as coming in cute and colourful covers, the new unit comes with a host of kiddy-friendly app as well as parental controls.
Alex comes with two versions- free and premium
According to Buzzfeed News, the free version comes with a Parent Dashboard to monitor and limit what kids are doing on the device. It also contains explicit lyrics filters, time limit settings to restrict when Alexa can be used and kid-specific questions and answers.
The premium version has all of the above, as well as audio books, kid-friendly radio stations and playlists and apps like National Geographic and Nickelodeon.
Some other features are disarmingly adorable, such as a "magic word" that will award kids for bing polite and using words like 'please' and 'thank you'. It would be nice not to nag them about manners for a bit...
Child pronunciation is also taken into account, the device will still wake up when called "Awexa".
There is a number of differences between the way the device answers questions for kids and adults. Buzzfeed tried it out.
"When I ask Alexa if I’m too fat, for example, it responds, 'Hm, I’m not sure.' But when I ask the same question of the kids’ version, it responds that 'Everyone’s bodies are different shapes, colours, and sizes, and that’s okay. If you’re concerned about something, you should talk to a trusted friend, grown-up, or relative.'"
Toni Reid, Amazon executive, also confirms that they have taken every step necessary to ensure the safety of it's youngest consumers. She lists existing privacy features such as the LED that lights up when Alexa is listening, the mute button which disconnects audio, and a command that lets customers see and delete everything Alexa has heard.
“We built privacy in from day one,” says Reid. “Control and transparency is important for customers. We added more to it to give parents more control. For parents, in the dashboard, you can view utterances. We’ll continue to work on features around privacy for our customers.”
As cool as having an AI available at your kid's every beck and call, it still comes with some remaining issues. Will they get dependant on it? Are the safety and privacy settings really as advanced as they say?
What do you think mums? Would you let an Amazon Kids Alexa into your house?
