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Amazon’s Alexa literally loses her voice amid widespread Amazon outage

Amazon's Alexa might be able to feel the irritation in your voice soon, and even offer an apology The updates might include better understanding of the language and emotional tenor of your voice The whole point of Alexa understanding your feelings is to apologize when she doesn't understand your request quickly apologize and politely ask you to repeat
By Fiza Pirani
March 2, 2018

A regional outage of Amazon Web Services had widespread effects nationwide Friday, even causing Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa to be unresponsive Friday morning.

» RELATED: Someone asked Amazon's Alexa about the CIA and the answers are hilarious

Users noted Alexa delivered verbal apologies and chimes, as well as a red ring of light signaling an issue.

Around 1 p.m., Down Detector reported a major spike in Alexa-related complaints. Some Alexa services, however, still work through the Alexa app.

By midafternoon, users reported that Alexa was responding to voice commands again.

» RELATED: Google, Amazon or Apple: Which home automation system is right for you?

The outage is quite ironic considering Amazon's recent Super Bowl ad campaign, which suggested (as a joke) that it could replace Alexa with celebrities if it lost its voice. Watch the ad below:

About the Author

Fiza Pirani is an Atlanta-based freelance writer and editor.

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