Do you use the usual polite formulas when addressing a virtual assistant like Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri? This is my situation. While talking to my Google Home Mini, I can’t help but say “thank you” or “please” when I ask it to put music on Spotify or turn on a Philips Hue smart bulb.
Amazon Echo: Be careful, Alexa doesn’t understand courtesy
As we noticed in our full review of the Amazon Echo, Alexa isn’t as keen-eyed as Google Assistant. Despite 7 microphones, the speaker sometimes has trouble hearing our requests. If I ask it to turn on some music and I have the misfortune of adding “please”, nothing happens. In some cases, Alexa will answer me “uh…not sure”. When I went to the Amazon Alexa app (available on Android and iOS), I noticed several times that the voice command was not understood due to these few extra words.
As our Figaro colleagues pointed out, a child who is in very frequent contact with Alexa runs the risk of forgetting famous magic words to focus on important keywords. The US version of Alexa is aware of the problem. Since a recent update, the assistant will praise kids who take the trouble to add “please” to every command. In the US, Amazon also offers a kids’ version of its speaker: Echo Kids ($30). Evidence of the speaker’s appeal among the youngest, Alexa was even a British baby’s first word!
If politeness is really important to you, that’s why we recommend choosing a Google Home speaker. As Google announced at its Google I/O conference, Google Assistant will soon be able to teach kindness to the youngest. When the “Pretty Please” mode is enabled, the assistant will only respond if your child pronounces some magic words in addition to “Ok, Google”: the famous Thank you and please. What do you think of this finding?
