Practical training with Alexa Plus’s Ai Agent features

One of the best features Alexa Amazon new Do you not have to “talk about Alexa” anymore. The sound assistant has been tested For about a week now, he understands what I am saying, regardless of how he said – there is no longer a careful formulation to make Alexa do what I want. This big shift supports another title of the title of An artificial intelligence assistant has been renewed I was testing: Agentic AI. But this one needs work.

The idea is that I can talk to Alexa Plus and I would like to a real personal assistant and ask this to do tasks, such as keeping my friend’s birthday restaurant, finding an electrician to fix the broken machine gun pump, or book tickets for Chris Isaac.

The assistant can then serve as “Amnesty International’s Undersecretary” and move on online services online on behalf of me to reserve everything for me. along with Better evaluation management and The ability to remember things You are telling her, Alexa Agensic AI is the ability to make the assistant more useful.

At least in theory. In fact, it is very limited. Alexa Plus depends on partnerships with specific services; It can not only wander the web and make bids. As of now, this includes Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Uber and Thumbtack. Despite impressive, Alexa managed to complete several steps, in general, that the current features of the artificial intelligence agent are not wide enough or smooth enough to replace a real personal assistant: I.

Alexa plus is still in Experimental stage of early arrivalAmazon says more integration will come soon. This includes a volume grocery request (via “many grocery providers in the United States”), delivery through GRUBHub, and booking spa visits through mysterious.

This may be more useful for me, especially the arrangement of groceries. I am already using Alexa for my shopping menu, but then I have to put everything in the Harris Teeer app to shop for receipt or delivery. If Alexa can take this list and add it to a service like Instacart, this will cut a large part of the work for me.

Among the three trials of the agent that I tested, the best was to book a ticket for an event through Ticketmaster. After the start of the dodging – when I asked about sports events and told a youth ball training session for youth – I tried again. “What events in Charleston next month can you buy tickets for me?”

Alexa produced a list of about 10 local sporting events and concerts on Echo of 15 I was using (Alexa Plus more useful on an examination). He told me, “I got music performances like BlackBerry Smoke and Mike Campbell on August 5 and the collective spirit on August 6. There is also a trimming group for treatment on the second of August. What is your interest?”

I monitored Chris Isaac’s party in the list (I love good An evil gameI told her to book tickets for me. I found balcony seats for $ 98.15 each and asked about the number I wanted, while also showing me more expensive options.

I chose the cheap seats, and I went to me every step because it added it to my shopping cart, and it ends with the exit button where my credit card details were previously destroyed. (I connected my Ticketmaster account in the Alexa app when I prepared Alexa Plus for the first time.)

I canceled before buying, because I don’t like An evil game 200 dollars, Alexa confirmed that tickets were issued. However, anxiously, later that day, one of the popups in Alexa app told me that anyone With access to my Alexa devices, tickets can be requested. Amazon: I will take a pin option here, please.

After that, I asked Alexa, “Dinner for two people in downtown Charleston for tomorrow at 7 pm.” Three options have returned, which is sad – Charleston has a scene jumping fans. I have chosen a French place that I had done before and others, and I asked Alexa, “making it for two weeks on Friday.” Unnamed, Alexa understood, and her availability and confirmed her availability on Friday, July 31, at 7 pm, then asked me if I wanted to book. After confirmed, he said that he would also add reservation with the associated Gmail calendar. useful!

Or so I thought. Then I received a text message from OpenTable, which confirms my reservation Thursday, July 31. Alexa has spoiled history. I told Alexa to switch the reservation until Friday, August 1, and it did so, and it has also updated my calendar.

Although she eventually booked the table, Alexa took longer to do so and was less accurate than if you had opened the OpenTable app on my phone (or more realistic, which is the Resy application that most restaurants use in Charleston) and did so myself.

Finally, Alexa had a routine treatment that I postponed for two years: an electrical found. I was intending to get the circuit for my machine gun over the ages. It is the same style as my online router, so when the pump begins, it leaves the circle-and goes down Wi-Fi.

I told Alexa that I needed an electrician to fix the spray system, and asked him if he could reserve one. I pulled a list of many “high -class classification” in my area thumbtackShedding light on the first three places. I chose one and asked for this to make an appointment for a week from now. Alexa asked many follow-up questions about my home and the specific case-I felt a little like filling the web network with my voice. Alexa then said that she is working to send the request through Thumbtack, and to get updates soon.

A few hours later, there was no word from Alexa. But I received an e -mail from Thumbtack (the first among many …) and a text message from electricity asking me to call or send a text message to make an appointment. Not exactly the Set-Eit-FORGET-IT experience.

However, the big difference is that I did all this Hands -free. I can prepare dinner dates and create electricians while cooking dinner or folding washing. As a working mother, anything that helps in multiple tasks so that I can complete my task menu faster. But while technology is impressive, the lack of depth and failures that I have gone through in my three tests means that I am not planning to rely on Alexa to do these tasks for me so far.

Photography by Jennifer Patson Tuhi / The Forge