Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant can now help you diagnose COVID-19
Amazon Alexa users in the US can now use the voice assistant as a first step towards diagnosing cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Amazon has announced. Queries such as “Alexa, what do I do if I think I have coronavirus?” or “Alexa, what do I do if I think I have COVID-19?” will prompt the voice assistant to ask about your symptoms, travel history, and possible exposure to the virus. It will then offer advice based on official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information.
The functionality is a step up from the information Alexa was offering previously. Earlier this month, Vox reported that Alexa would list off simple facts. Amazon’s announcement follows a similar move from Apple, whose Siri voice assistant has also been updated to offer diagnosis advice.
As well as offering advice on symptoms, Alexa can now also be asked to sing a song for 20 seconds to help you know when you’ve properly washed your hands. Alexa’s subpar singing voice means we can’t see people using the feature much for themselves, but it might motivate children. Amazon says the feature is available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, the UK, and the US. CNET reports that Google has also added a similar hand-washing timer to its voice assistant.
More generally, Amazon has also kept its fulfillment centers running, which has helped populations to follow shelter-at-home mandates. However, in some cases concerns have been raised about how it’s gone about this. Workers in the company’s warehouses, which are still operating to fulfill orders, including the delivery of COVID-19 test kits in the UK, have reported that management hasn’t been proactively informing them when colleagues have tested positive for the disease. Instead, they’ve often been hearing about them through rumors. Amazon has also been criticized for not providing enough cleaning supplies in its warehouses, despite assuring workers that it has ramped up its cleaning procedures.
Amazon Alexa users in the US can now use the voice assistant as a first step towards diagnosing cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Amazon has announced. Queries such as “Alexa, what do I do if I think I have coronavirus?” or “Alexa, what do I…
Recent Posts
- Firefox 126 is out – and it’ll make a huge difference to the quality of videos in the browser, for those with the right hardware
- Google adds Max, Peacock, and Angry Birds to cars with native Android software
- Could ChromeOS eventually run on your Android phone? Google’s demo of exactly that is an exciting hint for the future
- Uber announces its new, worse version of a bus
- iPhone owners say the latest iOS update is resurfacing deleted nudes
Archives
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011