voice-assistant

Google's Gemini Live is experiencing persistent voice quality issues following the recent Gemini 3.1 Flash Live update. Users report that voice options like "Capella" (British female accent) have deteriorated significantly, with speech patterns changing dramatically during conversations and audio artifacts like crackles and pops becoming prominent.

Amazon's Alexa+, its conversational AI assistant, begins Early Access in the UK on March 19, rolling out to hundreds of thousands of users. The updated assistant includes British English localization with regional speech patterns, slang understanding, and agentic capabilities. Free for Prime members; £20/month for non-members.

Amazon is rolling out Alexa+, its AI-powered conversational assistant, to the UK as the first market outside North America. The company is offering free early access to new Echo buyers and plans to reach hundreds of thousands of customers in the coming weeks. After the beta period ends, Prime subscribers will get free access while non-Prime users will pay £19.99 per month.

Google has deployed its second major Gemini for Home update this month, reducing response latency by 40% for common commands and substantially shortening voice responses for alarms, timers, and calendar events. The update adds five new alarm/timer capabilities including world event-based triggers and recurring alarms, while expanding Gemini Live translation to 30 languages and rolling out Home features to 19 additional countries.

Amazon announced a new "Sassy" personality for Alexa+ on Thursday, marketed toward adult users and protected by additional security checks including Face ID on iOS. The personality uses explicit language and wit but explicitly excludes sexual content, hate speech, and harmful material.

Samsung is expanding Galaxy AI to include Perplexity as an integrated AI agent accessible via the voice command "Hey, Plex." The integration gives Perplexity access to Samsung's native apps including Notes, Clock, Gallery, Reminder, and Calendar, marking Samsung's shift toward a multi-agent ecosystem.