Broken Fix #1: “You Can Change the Wake Word”

The “solution” that never worked…

The most common response we get when we bring up the problems Amazon created when they chose a real name for their AI is “you can change the wake word.” While the option to use alternative wake words for some of Amazon’s virtual assistant devices has existed from the start, it’s failed to fix the problem for the following reasons: many products don’t have this option, and many of the tech’s users prefer to stay with “Alexa”. Since the devices in question don’t usually belong to the people whose name is triggering them, it’s not up to them to change it.

1. The Wake Word can’t be changed on many products:

The fastest growing category of devices that use Amazon’s virtual assistant are products, made by other manufacturers, that have “Alexa Built-in”.

Amazon restricts all “Alexa Built-in” devices from using any of the alternative wake words besides “Alexa”, stipulating it in #16 of the “Alexa Voice Services Agreement,” which these companies must adhere to in order to use the AI in their products.

At present count, there are at least 745 such products, but new ones are coming out all the time. In fact, Amazon announced at the 2021 “Alexa Live” event that they will be greatly expanding the number of countries where AVS will be available, meaning that the number of these products out there can be expected to skyrocket soon.

In addition to restricting any products using AVS from having other wake word options, Amazon limits changing the wake word on some of its own “Echo” products: their ear buds (Echo Buds), their plug-in device for cars (Echo Auto), as well as Echo Tap. (Echo Frames were also limited to just using “Alexa”, but Amazon recently added “Echo” as a single alternative).

For the users who want to use the other options, or absolutely need to (because someone in their life is named Alexa, or similar) the company’s wake word restrictions for some Echo products and all “Alexa Built-in” products are a significant source of frustration, and is even preventing equal access to the technology.

 

That’s hundreds of millions of devices on which users cannot change the wake word to anything other than “Alexa”

Tweet: Does Amazon make an echo for households w/ people named Alexa? People named Alex Underwood? Reply: For households with people named Alex or Alexa, we recommend setting the wake word to "Amazon" or "Echo" instead.

What do they recommend for these households if they have an “Alexa Built-in” product?

Facebook Portal is one of hundreds of products using Amazon’s AI where the wake word can only be “Alexa”.

Tweet: "Amazon, how come on my Tap and Echo Auto, I can't change the wake word but on my Echo dots I can? You have the programming already. Why can't we change the wake word on all of them?"
  • Tweet: "I named my daughter Alexa. We change the name but haven't found a way to change our ecobee and it's constantly telling us it doesn't understand!"
  • Screenshot from support.ecobee.com: Can I change the wake word on my ecobee with built-in Alexa like I can on my Amazon Echo? Answer: At this point in time, ecobee devices with built-in Alexa only support the 'Alexa' word.
 
Tweet from someone named Alexa: "This is such an deliberately obtuse answer. You know that changing the wake name doesn't actually give us our name back."
Tweet: It's kin of hard to have a friend named 'Alexa' and have two Alexas in the house. Reply: Some of the devices allow you to change the wake word. Reply: The devices are my dads so it's up to him to change it though
 

2. The devices going off don’t belong to them:

Now that Amazon’s virtual assistant is practically everywhere, the chances of encountering it for the people affected are higher than ever. Changing the wake word means having access to settings which aren’t theirs to control when the devices belong to the homeowner, teacher, business, store, doctor’s office, etc., that’s using them. And as we’ve already shown, device users rarely take ethical measures to address this problem on their own, but gravitate towards dehumanizing alternatives like renaming the humans, or not addressing them at all.

Negotiating for the use of your name…

Because the devices causing problems don’t usually belong to the people named Alexa (and similar), in order for them to benefit from the option of changing the wake word (on the devices that actually allow it), they’d have to continuously be campaigning to device owners for the right to use their own name.

Imagine how mentally exhausting it would be having to repeatedly negotiate for something as basic to all humans as the use of one’s own name.

3. Most users don’t want to change the wake word:

Every advertisement for products using Amazon’s virtual assistant shows users giving commands to “Alexa”; it’s never one of the alternative wake words like Amazon, Echo, Ziggy, or Computer. No doubt, this detail, combined with the fact that “Alexa” is the default wake word for all devices, contributes to Amazon’s customers preferring that wake word out of all the others. It’s not surprising that many users find the other options less appealing, considering how much the name Alexa is linked with the AI’s carefully crafted persona in all of Amazon’s marketing. In addition, many users find some of the other options, like “Computer,” impractical, because it’s a word that’s commonly spoken. The important difference, of course, is that “Computer” isn’t a name for people, so no one gets dehumanized if device users have to stop saying it, or give it a code name. (I am Alexa Alliance does not advocate the use of Echo or Ziggy, because they are also human names, albeit much rarer ones than Alexa and similar).

 
 
Tweet: "Sigh. I'm gonna have to rename all of the Echo devices in my house because a kid in my son's class is named Alexa."
Tweet: "I'll stick to Alexa. Computer, Echo, or Amazon is too cold."

The ability for users to change the wake word on some devices has existed from the start, but it clearly isn’t working or else our group (and this website) would not exist.