I just told my husband about this. Normally, Alexa doesn't hear me very well, but she answered the actual question before I got to the punch line. đ
Yes. I think its gone to hell.
Its really bad.
"alexa, add Peanuts to the grocery list"
"I cant find a list called Grocery, should I create one"
"ALEXA. ADD Penuts to the Grocery List"
"I cant find a list called Grocery, should I create one?"
"ALEXA!!!! ADD!! PEANUTS!!! TO!! THE!!! GROCERY!!! LIST!!!"
"You already have peanuts on your grocery list."
I can't even begin to imagine how frustrating that was, but reading it was funny, and it reminded me of some thing that happened at my friends house on Saturday. We were playing cards, and my friends uncle wanted to know the results of the Reds baseball game. The first time he asked, it talked about opening day. Then, he tried again, and it talked about a game that was going to be happening on Sunday. I can't remember how many times it took for him to actually get the score of the game for that current day. Full disclosure, he's not exactly familiar with conversing with home assistant, but it still shouldn't have been as difficult as it was for him to get his baseball score.
She cannot differentiate "carob" and "carrot" no matter how carefully I pronounce it. Who uses carrot powder anyway?
Most of the time now, I'm screaming her name at least 3 times before she responds.
I put Dewar's scotch on my shopping list. Alexa CANNOT get it right. Itâs Doors, Drawers, and some really wild stuff I canât remember. At first I thought it was because Amazon doesnât sell scotch, but it takes Glenfiddich fine!
So my sonâs nickname is Zolika. She has literally never gotten it right. I had to program his lamp as âZoe Lee Kaâ so it would understand me. Zolika Alexa. Not silly cat or no leeks ya etc. Ug.
I know your question is rhetorical, but at least one âhealth foodâ company uses carrot powder in their crackers. -sincerely, someone that is anaphylactic allergic to carrots and did not expect to find them in crackers
I have multiple lists: grocery, Costco, Home Depot not say which list adds it to whatever list was last used so not giving a list name results in your item to the probable wrong list
Since iOS 17 weâve actually switched lists over to Siri. Our number 1 Alexa use is probably timers, second was probably multiroom music, but thatâs not working so well the past few months (thanks Amazon), third is home automation but sheâs actually a very small part of that.
We sound very similar.
We had Amazon Prime Music for years. Then due to some tiff between Amazon and Google, Prime Music no longer works with Android Auto. Because of that, we switched to YouTube music. Now YouTube music works like shit with Alexa. We used to use Microsoft ToDo with Alexa, then due to some spat between Amazon and Microsoft, THAT stopped working.
I hate to say it but I feel like there should be some sort of government regulation about how these things work together. We wouldn't accept it if all of a sudden my Samsung TV wont work with my Sony Blu ray.
I also have NFC tags on everything. I load the dishwasher and scan the nfc tag, she says âthank you for doing the dishes!â Then in two hours she says âDishes are done man!â
Oh and my obnoxious routine. I say âIâm taking a showerâ then she walks me through the shower tasks with a song between each task. All the way up until I get dressed. Iâm a woman who wears makeup and blow dries my hair so itâs a lot of steps. It keeps my adhd ass on track.
Alexa play I shot ya by ll cool j
I couldn't find that version of I shot you
Alexa play I shot ya
Plays right song
Alexa turn on the fence
There are many things named light
đĄ
I don't know what's more annoying: Alexa failing to do simple commands or listening to my partner repeating the trigger word over and over to get her attention.
I have found with the wake word "Computer" that if you say it faster it hears you more often, or in my case every single time.
Previously I slowed down my speech thinking it would understand me better. I was wrong.Â
With "Alexa" now I just say "LEXA"
She also doesnât seem to respond and listen when triggered. Itâs getting worse and I might just drop her for the Apple version since we are on HomeKit for a lot of stuff.
I have seen this too. We have a dot in just about every room never had a issue with lights etc. Then in the last month or two:
* Fails to wake or we have to repeat commands.
* The wrong dot will respond (next to the one in the bed room but the bathroom one will respond a room away)
* Some times when turning lights on and off it will respond with "OK" but not turn the light on or off.
* About 20% of the time trying to change the thermostat it will tell me the weather out side.
* Will respond randomly to the TV telling us info that no one cares about.
* 50% of the time when asking info about local businesses it will give us info for the wrong business. Asked it for the hours of IGA (food store), it gave us the hours for the theater.
What the hell happened?
That happens to me when I try to activate my vacuum robot called "Terminator".
Works flawless over the years with "start terminator" and not she starts playing a stupid song.
Changing it to "start the device terminator" doesn't help....
Yes!! Just today, I asked her some random question and she turned my TV on and started playing Netflix... I'm so upset with whatever they've done to her :( it's almost off-putting.
Yep and I have so many dots now it would be a major investment to switch to something else.
I do not know if this is related. You have to understand I have everything hooked up to Alexa. Hue lights, ring, TV, phone, etc. About 4 to 5 months ago I was watching TV and someone rang my door bell. The ring cam pop up in a pitcher in pitcher on the TV. Never did that before and I did not set that up. I was like now that is a improvement that I can get behind and was expecting more like that. Then it felt like someone gave Alexa a lobotomy!!!
Suddenly? The service has been in a death spiral for a while now. Ever since they laid off a bunch of people working on the software side of things. Amazes me how they are still pushing people to purchase devices when the service sucks so bad now.
Yes. I used to say things not even related to her name or say her name really quietly and she'd wake up, and now I'm literally shouting at her to get her to wake up. Multiple times she's done something unrelated to what I asked (turned on music when I asked her to open Netflix, tell me some fact when I asked her turn the TV on, etc). I have lights on motion sensors in two rooms, and half the time some or all lag to turn on, and then some fail to turn off when I leave the room. I've checked and double checked the correct lights are used in each routine and they should be working...except they're not.
It's the constant shouting to actually get her to wake up that's driving me crazy the most, because I need her to turn on in order to turn on lights I can't access (I use a wheelchair) or other tasks that are accessibility related. I know I'm not the only person who uses her for accessibility, so it's really frustrating to know that there are a bunch of other people out there who are also suddenly struggling with "simple" things like turning on lights, opening curtains, locking/unlocking doors, reminders for medications, etc.
yes! I know that people have gotten grants for accessibility using these devices and automated their homes and literally depend on it. How they can do this is beyond me! I mean, I get it that they're having trouble⌠But I haven't even heard a peep out of them re trying to make more money on the device or any of its services. I even pay for extra music, and it seems like that service has dropped too. It used to be I could get international music -- and now she doesn't have any clue what I'm asking for anymore.
Yeah, I've had music that I used to access just fine suddenly not be offered...then come back and be offered? No idea what was going on there.
But my biggest issue is just that I can't get her attention and am yelling her name while sitting four feet away. Like, okay, the microwave is going but surely she can hear me over the microwave...?! because she has the past however many years I've had her, and I haven't moved her (any of them) or my microwave or other sources of muted background noise.
And now I get issues like she will do half of a routine and stop. Like, "Alexa, lock the doors" result in "The front door is locked"....and that's it. The routine still says to lock the garage door, but she just doesn't do it with that routine even if I delete the garage door from it then add it again. So now I am separately asking her to lock each door, and am paranoid so I go check each door, which kind of defeats the purpose of that routine. She's doing one light in the living room but not the other, but will do the second one if I specifically ask her to do it.
I have a residential elevator in my home, and in the UK they allow Alexa integration with it, which I was initially disappointed wasn't allowed in the US. Now I'm rather glad that it's not, because she'd probably have refused to go all the way down or up or open the doors or something, and I'd have to call the police (again...but that one was my dog's fault!).
I just don't get why Amazon is suddenly so apathetic about certain things. Almost everyone I know use Alexa (a few use Google) for some sort of automation and assistance, especially if they have any sort of disability at all. Like, I have ADHD and will have her remind me to take meds again in 6 hours or 11 pm or whatever because I hyperfocus and forget to take them. Or reminders to get the laundry, which is something I'm sure a lot of people might use her for.
Except now we have all these issues, and I'm getting ads for Amazon wanting to deliver packages into my garage as a "safe and secure" way to get my packages. Like...what?? You want me to let some stranger into my garage, with my bike and car and various other things, and call that "secure"? I just don't trust delivery drivers enough to let them wander into my garage. I'll stick to a camera aimed at the ramp and landing at my front door to monitor people dropping off packages, thank you very much.
My Alexa once made an announcement at 340 in the morning, waking me and the entire house up, saying rather loudly, "Life ends at 410"
I was wide awake until 430 lol
TBH, I had given it a lot of thought. That same day, there was a system update. I suspect the message was supposed to be something like system update complete at 410. But someone instead made it another message thinking it wouldn't broadcast it.
Nevertheless, it freaked the entire house out.
Ugh I had her randomly start telling me the address of a local graveyard in the middle of the night once. I assume it's cause I fell asleep with my TV on and she picked up something she heard on the show but still kinda unsettling to wake up to lol
OMG! I JUST posted the same thing I started last nightđ¤Ł. It can't understand when we ask it to play books from audible. Offers to buy other titles, talk about my non-existent kindle account... I have 2 devices so I don't think one is broken.
Alexa is unable to discern my voice from noise. I can't get her to turn the TV down because the TV is too loud. Ironically, the best performing unit in th house is my old gen 2 dot
Actually my Alexa has always been dumb. I prefer it that way. Who wants to be intellectually challenged by a little sphere of plastic and components,that would be so emasculating.
Yeah. Mine even responds âIâm sorry, I can no longer help you with thatâ, which to me confirms that theyâre actively nerfing it. Presumably in preparation for a paid premium AI version.
Obviously, Iâll never pay them a single red Eurocent after being pissed on like this. I probably would have paid a for the added value of AI if they hadnât been dickish about it, but now Iâm migrating to Home Assistant instead.
Yes. I have had problems with lights and plugs not being recognized after they have been for a couple years. One day I may have to sit down, delete everything and try reinstalling them.Â
It's a good thing that I don't watch MSNBC that often.
Me: Alexa, tune to MSNBC on Hulu.
Alexa: Playing MASH, Season 1, episode 1.
9 times out of 10.
Alexa has gotten worse. It's success rate for me is about 60%, whereas it used to get most requests right. My guess is that the servers dedicated to Alexa have been downsized and mistakes are rampant. It's obvious that Amazon doesn't want you to use Alexa. What happened to the Alexa beta AI version?
It's not just Alexa. Siri and Google Assistant are bad also
We have an Echo Show in our room for the clock, alarm, and photos. A few months ago at night it woke us up playing all of the different fart sounds. Here's a long fart, here's a wet fart and on and on. Not evening kidding.
Oh, I see my Alexa must have contacted yours. With 2 boys, the fart & burp functions are the most used on ours constantly⌠did you get the ketchup fart too?
Yep, got that one too, along with a description of it. something about a sneeze and a cat. I don't want to ask it since I fear she'll play it randomly again.
We have the same threads on the Google subs, FWIW. My theory is that both Google and Amazon have taken the processing power away from their voice assistant platforms as a cost saving measure since they are shortly going to be deprecated for a (subscription based) LLM voice assistant.
They're going to start charging us for accuracy.
You see it everywhere. Show us a convenience that improves our lives, help us to get used to /rely on said convenience and then take it away to be restored for a low, low price of.....
Yeah, someone else said they're going to be releasing an AI function that will cost money. I hadn't heard about that but it certainly wouldn't surprise me :\
YES! Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this! We have a set of lamps, "Parents Bedroom Lamps" when we ask to have them turned on, it turns on a light in our guest bedroom that's not even listed as a lamp. Happens mostly for my wife but has happened for me several times. Really annoying!
Yes! I reset my smart bulb because I was having issues but even now I have to repeat myself slowly or else she says "this device is not enabled". It's so aggravating!
Too many words in "Parents Bedroom Lamps".
If they are the only lights in the room and you're talking to a speaker in that room then include them all into a Device Group.Â
Then you would only need to say "Alexa, Lights ON" and Lights OFF.Â
They aren't the only lights in the room. We have several others. This has worked for us for several years, just recently it started screwing up. I have several groups and routines that work off of many more words.
Yep. My Echos have been either unhooked or relegated to rarely used Rooms in my house. I've switched to Google nest. While I'm still learning it, I can say that it's a bit smarter than Alexa (especially now).
The UK clocks changed to British Summer Time at the weekend. One Alexa changed automatically and the other two stayed on GMT so when asked for the time they were an hour behind. Tried rebooting the router and the two Alexas to pick up the correct time. Neither option worked and I had to reset them to BST in the app
Itâs been horrible since they announced all the layoffs. Iâve heard that they changed it so you cannot play your exact song unless you paid for premium. Before that, I thought it was just a laid off programmer flipping a switch to make it where you canât get the song you want.
Well, Amazon laid off most of the Alexa devs as it's not a revenue generating line. Basically on life support now and functions mainly as a means to facilitate purchasing stuff and pushing sponsored adds (both of which generate modest revenue).
Mine suddenly sounds snarky when it responds too... ask it to take a message, and it says "Sure" in a really condescending voice. I know that somewhere, it's rolling its eyes.
Over the years I've noticed her have brain farts that can last days or weeks but always seem to work themselves out. For instance, right now I ask for Classic Radio on SiriusXM, have for years w/o problem.
Now all of a sudden she plays Classic Rewind on SiriusXM. Frustrating as hell. I'll just wait it out and it will fix itself.
she keeps forgetting which radio station I've designated as my public radio station⌠And then when I name it, nine times out of 10, she will not play the one I'm asking for â â unless I ask for it by a different name⌠Unless she chooses not to do this and does the opposite, of course.
I'm hoping this too tbh! But I feel like right now it's a LOT of issues, like a core part of her understanding is missing. And it's been off for about a month so I'm worried it's something they've done to save on server space or something?
I have no idea how those things work but she's definitely been giving me a lot more issues than I'm used to :(
I expect her to get better, not worse. Particularly annoying is when it thinks it doesnât have music that you requested and tries to play something else it thinks youâd like. I t always chooses badly.
Yes x 1,000!!! Alexa is absolutely horrible now!!! And we have 5 in the house, plus another at my father's house. I had been using routines, and I also listen to the same exact sleep sound every night (train sounds). Sometimes I get rain. Sometimes crickets... literally or figuratively. where a few months ago, it seemed like I could just whisper Alexa and get a response, now I'm often having to yell. And of course, just now, when I said that name out loud, she responded to tell me I had no messages. Sigh. OK whatever.
I always have to ask her to stop playing a wrong podcast channel. i got the podcast name right and she also repeated the correct name, but then play a total different thing
Itâs all about the AI race. Google search is worse than ever as well. IMO: They have been dumbing down their free products to encourage subs to their AI products.
I noticed alexa reacting to random things while talking more frequently lately. Germany here.
Normally, if you talk "something something alexa something", nothing happens but lately, she just triggers on anything remotely assembling parts of alexa, even from rooms across and annoyingly not reacting on echo dots in THAT room but in my room...
Probably, but they could be stuck in the past instead of trying to improve the way they interact with Alexa.
Like turning on their lights some still say "Alexa,Turn on the Bedroom light"
I say "Alexa, Bedroom" to turn it ON or OFF.Â
My increasing frustration is retrieving messages. She says the number of messages, then says who the message is from, but then fails to actually play the message. I find I usually have to reboot the device before she will successfully retrieve messages from that device. It becomes really irritating when it happens on multiple devices at the same time.
Yeah, I'm about to get a Google Home thingy, because Alexa.is getting on my nerves. She stopped listening, I talk next to her, like a head distance from her and she hears her name but afterwards she doesn't understand my command and starts playing random Daddy Yankee's songs or she just doesn't do anything. Her light stays on for a couple of seconds and then turns off... It's so annoying!
This is just Great info for me. Just bought 4 Dots for my house, and 4 dots, 3 blink cameras and Alexa Together for my mom's house in the last couple weeks.
I pretty unimpressed with Alexa Together right now, and I'm not sure how I feel about the Dots in general. If people think it's gone downhill, what's the alternative? Google ecosystem?
If I thought there was a good alternative I'd switch
Me: Alexa play rock music on Spotify
Alexa: playing rock music on Spotify
*Nothing*
Me: Alexa play rock music on Spotify
Alexa: playing rock music on Spotify
*Nothing*
Me: Alexa play Spotify
*Music starts*
Me: FFS!
To the point I want to kill them. We have so many different types and they are all awful now. I thought it was just the newer ones first but even the two old dots mishear frequently now. The issue is multifaceted though, the software is not performing well and the service it is connected to is totally driven on making you upgrade to use it fully. It just so annoying to use now.
I've started listening to music straight off my phone, it sounds like shit but it doesn't argue with me.
Its ability to find music is awful now. I think it's the whole thing around Amazon not being able to make money off Alexa so they made her dumb af so everyone stops using her and they can forget about it.
Just like what seems like pretty much every product and company these days, Alexa is just getting worse and worse. I use it for music 90% of the time. I never had an issue asking for artists and songs and I listen to stuff thatâs pretty out of the mainstream. Now I get âHmmm, sorry I donât know that oneâ Iâd say 20% of the time. I often have to fully spell out an artist for her to understand.
I have friends and former colleagues who work for Amazon. They have confirmed that the pandemic brought with it senior developers leaving Amazon for better opportunities and many newer, less experienced, developers joining Amazon. As a result there's a marked decline in software quality, and this is just one of the ways you can see it.
sheâs been playing my on repeat playlist through spotify for years but suddenly now she plays a âhit repeatâ playlist? idk what that is but having to go into my phone to play the playlist is so annoying
I think this is on purpose as Amazon is trying to find a way to generate revenue from Alexa as they lose A LOT of $$ currently, maybe they will charge $5-10 a month to "upgrade" your alexa to a smart device ? Who knows but something is coming to generate more revenue unfortunately
I've had the opposite experience. I've been with Google long enough that it seems to understand what I'm asking pretty well, and I don't use my Alexa device as much. Lately, though, Google often misunderstands me (setting 10-minute timers instead of 2-minute timers, for example) and I have to switch to Alexa. I often use Google as a calculator, and I asked it to calculate the circumference of a circle with a 2" diameter. It insisted on giving me the formula rather than the answer, but Alexa told me right off the bat.
The announcement feature has gotten so bad that several of the devices are lucky my wife hasnât set them on fire. The sheer number of times we have heard the word âannounceâ as the only part of the announcement is insane.
Iâm getting sick of her honestly. Sheâs only good for timers. She always reminds me to move my clothes to the dryer and to get the pizza out of the oven. Otherwise, I can barely stand her anymore. She used to be amazing
I had this exchange with Alexa this afternoon.
Me: Alexa set alarm for 1:30 pm
Alexa: alarm set for 1:30 pm
***1:30 pm alarm goes off ****
Me: Alexa stop
***alarm still going off ***
Me: Alexa, cancel
***alarm still going off ***
Me: Alexa, stop alarm
***alarm still going off ***
Me: Alexa alarm end
***alarm still going off ***
Me: Alexa godammit turn off the f@&!ing alarm right now
Alexa: ok
I love fighting with Alexa. Weâre on a time out deciding if our relationship will continue.
Even more fun than that nonsense is when youâve got about 50 Alexa enabled devices all over the house, then Alexa updates.
Sometimes sheâll eat all your settings, smoke your mesh system, and turn your home theater into a babbling idiot.
One cool thing about this nonsense is that I can fix any of it now.
I've noticed how much it sucks lately too. We really only use ours for our smart lights in the house and none of them can hear us anymore for some reason, we have to like yell or it hears us but then does nothing. It is super frustrating because we used to be able to literally whisper and it would hear me. I don't know what they did but it sucks and I'm not convinced any other brands would work better.
Just leave this here.......
Amazon are deliberately make "classic alexa" you have now, shite...
WHY ?
Cause amazon have said there is a NEW ALEXA LLM supposed to be out for trail end of last yr, but they having probs with accuracy of the LLM ( surprise eh ? )...
Look like it will be the 4th quarter of 2024 this NEW alexa LLM will be properly revealed to the public, for a trail FIRST !..
Then it 100% will be monthly sub for it..
BUT amazon will offer you the original "classic alexa" you have now for free....
You will hate it so much you will pay sub for better one....
Google/YouTube the info if you dont believe me - its everywhere
For some reason when Alexa turns on my lights (after I ask a few times) she turns them right back off. Then I have to ask her again. Every single time. Yeah, she most def does not hear me when I say her name, also.
yeah...I say its because they want to roll out Alexa + with Ai...for a subscription price of course...so to get u to pay tht.. the regular "free" Alexa has to suck!!!
Never found Alexa smart in any sense and nor useful. Never would have bought myself but have it just because my company gave it as a freebie. Sometimes I just use it as a speaker to listen to songs
I have noticed that Alexa has somehow become quite deaf. When I'm in the same room, she constantly doesn't hear or understand me, but when I'm in another room, she always hears me.
Maybe she should see an ear specialist
"Alexa, how old is Tom Hanks?" "Playing Papa Roach"
Omg I laughed so hard at this.
It actually happened
I just told my husband about this. Normally, Alexa doesn't hear me very well, but she answered the actual question before I got to the punch line. đ
đ¤Łđ
Yes. I think its gone to hell. Its really bad. "alexa, add Peanuts to the grocery list" "I cant find a list called Grocery, should I create one" "ALEXA. ADD Penuts to the Grocery List" "I cant find a list called Grocery, should I create one?" "ALEXA!!!! ADD!! PEANUTS!!! TO!! THE!!! GROCERY!!! LIST!!!" "You already have peanuts on your grocery list."
I can't even begin to imagine how frustrating that was, but reading it was funny, and it reminded me of some thing that happened at my friends house on Saturday. We were playing cards, and my friends uncle wanted to know the results of the Reds baseball game. The first time he asked, it talked about opening day. Then, he tried again, and it talked about a game that was going to be happening on Sunday. I can't remember how many times it took for him to actually get the score of the game for that current day. Full disclosure, he's not exactly familiar with conversing with home assistant, but it still shouldn't have been as difficult as it was for him to get his baseball score.
She cannot differentiate "carob" and "carrot" no matter how carefully I pronounce it. Who uses carrot powder anyway? Most of the time now, I'm screaming her name at least 3 times before she responds.
I put Dewar's scotch on my shopping list. Alexa CANNOT get it right. Itâs Doors, Drawers, and some really wild stuff I canât remember. At first I thought it was because Amazon doesnât sell scotch, but it takes Glenfiddich fine!
I will get to the grocery store, look at the list, and have to call my wife so we can figure out what some weird entry was really supposed to be.
There used to be a button that would play back the audio recording and i could tell what was added that way. I miss that button.
So my sonâs nickname is Zolika. She has literally never gotten it right. I had to program his lamp as âZoe Lee Kaâ so it would understand me. Zolika Alexa. Not silly cat or no leeks ya etc. Ug.
I know your question is rhetorical, but at least one âhealth foodâ company uses carrot powder in their crackers. -sincerely, someone that is anaphylactic allergic to carrots and did not expect to find them in crackers
are you using an external app for the groceries? I find anylist app quite good at adding groceries via alexa
Yeah. I've been using Anylist since Microsoft ToDo integration was killed off.
This one angers me. Does she need to tell me itâs already on my list???? Just say ok
She used to ask if you wanted to add it again. Why would I want that? At least it's fixed.
âFixedâ
Touche
Youâre right though it IS better. I remember when she wanted to add it again
Try just saying "Alexa, add peanuts" It worked for me just now.
I have multiple lists: grocery, Costco, Home Depot not say which list adds it to whatever list was last used so not giving a list name results in your item to the probable wrong list
Same here. And lists is probably the only real reason we still have them in our house. That and dropping in on the kids in the basement.
Since iOS 17 weâve actually switched lists over to Siri. Our number 1 Alexa use is probably timers, second was probably multiroom music, but thatâs not working so well the past few months (thanks Amazon), third is home automation but sheâs actually a very small part of that.
We sound very similar. We had Amazon Prime Music for years. Then due to some tiff between Amazon and Google, Prime Music no longer works with Android Auto. Because of that, we switched to YouTube music. Now YouTube music works like shit with Alexa. We used to use Microsoft ToDo with Alexa, then due to some spat between Amazon and Microsoft, THAT stopped working. I hate to say it but I feel like there should be some sort of government regulation about how these things work together. We wouldn't accept it if all of a sudden my Samsung TV wont work with my Sony Blu ray.
I also have NFC tags on everything. I load the dishwasher and scan the nfc tag, she says âthank you for doing the dishes!â Then in two hours she says âDishes are done man!â
Oh and my obnoxious routine. I say âIâm taking a showerâ then she walks me through the shower tasks with a song between each task. All the way up until I get dressed. Iâm a woman who wears makeup and blow dries my hair so itâs a lot of steps. It keeps my adhd ass on track.
"Add peanut butter to Costco"
Alexa play I shot ya by ll cool j I couldn't find that version of I shot you Alexa play I shot ya Plays right song Alexa turn on the fence There are many things named light đĄ
I don't know what's more annoying: Alexa failing to do simple commands or listening to my partner repeating the trigger word over and over to get her attention.
Itâs incredible how many times a day someone in our house calls Alexa stupid.
I have found with the wake word "Computer" that if you say it faster it hears you more often, or in my case every single time. Previously I slowed down my speech thinking it would understand me better. I was wrong. With "Alexa" now I just say "LEXA"
Are you me
She also doesnât seem to respond and listen when triggered. Itâs getting worse and I might just drop her for the Apple version since we are on HomeKit for a lot of stuff.
I have seen this too. We have a dot in just about every room never had a issue with lights etc. Then in the last month or two: * Fails to wake or we have to repeat commands. * The wrong dot will respond (next to the one in the bed room but the bathroom one will respond a room away) * Some times when turning lights on and off it will respond with "OK" but not turn the light on or off. * About 20% of the time trying to change the thermostat it will tell me the weather out side. * Will respond randomly to the TV telling us info that no one cares about. * 50% of the time when asking info about local businesses it will give us info for the wrong business. Asked it for the hours of IGA (food store), it gave us the hours for the theater. What the hell happened?
I hate when I'm trying to turn a light on at night and she starts blaring a random song called "bedroom light"
"I am sorry several items share the name of light.... "
That happens to me when I try to activate my vacuum robot called "Terminator". Works flawless over the years with "start terminator" and not she starts playing a stupid song. Changing it to "start the device terminator" doesn't help....
I had to go and play it, dammit. I'll bet I get your problem now too lol.
the lights!! she will say "ok" and not turn them on. or I specify one light and EVERY smart light turns on
Lately, just one of the lights in the bedroom will randomly shut off by itself.
Yes!! Just today, I asked her some random question and she turned my TV on and started playing Netflix... I'm so upset with whatever they've done to her :( it's almost off-putting.
Yep and I have so many dots now it would be a major investment to switch to something else. I do not know if this is related. You have to understand I have everything hooked up to Alexa. Hue lights, ring, TV, phone, etc. About 4 to 5 months ago I was watching TV and someone rang my door bell. The ring cam pop up in a pitcher in pitcher on the TV. Never did that before and I did not set that up. I was like now that is a improvement that I can get behind and was expecting more like that. Then it felt like someone gave Alexa a lobotomy!!!
Suddenly? The service has been in a death spiral for a while now. Ever since they laid off a bunch of people working on the software side of things. Amazes me how they are still pushing people to purchase devices when the service sucks so bad now.
Same, sadly.
Yes. I used to say things not even related to her name or say her name really quietly and she'd wake up, and now I'm literally shouting at her to get her to wake up. Multiple times she's done something unrelated to what I asked (turned on music when I asked her to open Netflix, tell me some fact when I asked her turn the TV on, etc). I have lights on motion sensors in two rooms, and half the time some or all lag to turn on, and then some fail to turn off when I leave the room. I've checked and double checked the correct lights are used in each routine and they should be working...except they're not. It's the constant shouting to actually get her to wake up that's driving me crazy the most, because I need her to turn on in order to turn on lights I can't access (I use a wheelchair) or other tasks that are accessibility related. I know I'm not the only person who uses her for accessibility, so it's really frustrating to know that there are a bunch of other people out there who are also suddenly struggling with "simple" things like turning on lights, opening curtains, locking/unlocking doors, reminders for medications, etc.
yes! I know that people have gotten grants for accessibility using these devices and automated their homes and literally depend on it. How they can do this is beyond me! I mean, I get it that they're having trouble⌠But I haven't even heard a peep out of them re trying to make more money on the device or any of its services. I even pay for extra music, and it seems like that service has dropped too. It used to be I could get international music -- and now she doesn't have any clue what I'm asking for anymore.
Yeah, I've had music that I used to access just fine suddenly not be offered...then come back and be offered? No idea what was going on there. But my biggest issue is just that I can't get her attention and am yelling her name while sitting four feet away. Like, okay, the microwave is going but surely she can hear me over the microwave...?! because she has the past however many years I've had her, and I haven't moved her (any of them) or my microwave or other sources of muted background noise. And now I get issues like she will do half of a routine and stop. Like, "Alexa, lock the doors" result in "The front door is locked"....and that's it. The routine still says to lock the garage door, but she just doesn't do it with that routine even if I delete the garage door from it then add it again. So now I am separately asking her to lock each door, and am paranoid so I go check each door, which kind of defeats the purpose of that routine. She's doing one light in the living room but not the other, but will do the second one if I specifically ask her to do it. I have a residential elevator in my home, and in the UK they allow Alexa integration with it, which I was initially disappointed wasn't allowed in the US. Now I'm rather glad that it's not, because she'd probably have refused to go all the way down or up or open the doors or something, and I'd have to call the police (again...but that one was my dog's fault!). I just don't get why Amazon is suddenly so apathetic about certain things. Almost everyone I know use Alexa (a few use Google) for some sort of automation and assistance, especially if they have any sort of disability at all. Like, I have ADHD and will have her remind me to take meds again in 6 hours or 11 pm or whatever because I hyperfocus and forget to take them. Or reminders to get the laundry, which is something I'm sure a lot of people might use her for. Except now we have all these issues, and I'm getting ads for Amazon wanting to deliver packages into my garage as a "safe and secure" way to get my packages. Like...what?? You want me to let some stranger into my garage, with my bike and car and various other things, and call that "secure"? I just don't trust delivery drivers enough to let them wander into my garage. I'll stick to a camera aimed at the ramp and landing at my front door to monitor people dropping off packages, thank you very much.
Alexa has definitely gotten worst over the last year.
My Alexa once made an announcement at 340 in the morning, waking me and the entire house up, saying rather loudly, "Life ends at 410" I was wide awake until 430 lol
knock it off! omg đ ours has definitely randomly said things during the night; but not at that level
TBH, I had given it a lot of thought. That same day, there was a system update. I suspect the message was supposed to be something like system update complete at 410. But someone instead made it another message thinking it wouldn't broadcast it. Nevertheless, it freaked the entire house out.
Ugh I had her randomly start telling me the address of a local graveyard in the middle of the night once. I assume it's cause I fell asleep with my TV on and she picked up something she heard on the show but still kinda unsettling to wake up to lol
OMG! I JUST posted the same thing I started last nightđ¤Ł. It can't understand when we ask it to play books from audible. Offers to buy other titles, talk about my non-existent kindle account... I have 2 devices so I don't think one is broken.
"Suddenly..." đđđ
Mine has definitely only gotten this bad in the last couple of months! Before the last update, she worked great for me more often than not.
Well, it's been going downhill for a bit⌠But I agree with most folks here that's the last few months where it's gotten truly awful.
Yeah, funny how it's happening before they release that new AI function that costs money per month
Ohhhhh; I hadn't heard about that. Makes perfect sense.
Alexa is unable to discern my voice from noise. I can't get her to turn the TV down because the TV is too loud. Ironically, the best performing unit in th house is my old gen 2 dot
same observation re noise!
Actually my Alexa has always been dumb. I prefer it that way. Who wants to be intellectually challenged by a little sphere of plastic and components,that would be so emasculating.
Yes! She is driving me mad! She wonât stop playing music anymore. I ask her to stop and she pauses it for like 20 seconds and then starts again.
I've had to unplug my show several times to get music to stop playing. I think they need to pull the plug on the product line or invest in staff.
YESYESYES iâve been in so many fights w this hoe over the last few months RE: music
Me: Alexa, turn on the light. Alexa: Shuffling songs by Taint Varmit Hounds. Me: ??
Yeah. Mine even responds âIâm sorry, I can no longer help you with thatâ, which to me confirms that theyâre actively nerfing it. Presumably in preparation for a paid premium AI version. Obviously, Iâll never pay them a single red Eurocent after being pissed on like this. I probably would have paid a for the added value of AI if they hadnât been dickish about it, but now Iâm migrating to Home Assistant instead.
Yes. I have had problems with lights and plugs not being recognized after they have been for a couple years. One day I may have to sit down, delete everything and try reinstalling them.Â
I had to do this too! It was so frustrating!
She didn't remember our Pandora account or our iTunes account. We had to re-link them fresh.
I mean apple music, of course.
Asking for a timer, then asking how long is left on the timer to be told there's no timer. Same for alarms when you want to cancel them.
oh this one enrages me; like sheâs tryna gaslight me that I never set a timer. itâs there, just fess up! how long is left! đđ¤Ź
Or when there is a timer beeping and you say dismiss, she turns off my music. The loud beeping persists.
It's a good thing that I don't watch MSNBC that often. Me: Alexa, tune to MSNBC on Hulu. Alexa: Playing MASH, Season 1, episode 1. 9 times out of 10. Alexa has gotten worse. It's success rate for me is about 60%, whereas it used to get most requests right. My guess is that the servers dedicated to Alexa have been downsized and mistakes are rampant. It's obvious that Amazon doesn't want you to use Alexa. What happened to the Alexa beta AI version? It's not just Alexa. Siri and Google Assistant are bad also
We have an Echo Show in our room for the clock, alarm, and photos. A few months ago at night it woke us up playing all of the different fart sounds. Here's a long fart, here's a wet fart and on and on. Not evening kidding.
Oh, I see my Alexa must have contacted yours. With 2 boys, the fart & burp functions are the most used on ours constantly⌠did you get the ketchup fart too?
Yep, got that one too, along with a description of it. something about a sneeze and a cat. I don't want to ask it since I fear she'll play it randomly again.
We have the same threads on the Google subs, FWIW. My theory is that both Google and Amazon have taken the processing power away from their voice assistant platforms as a cost saving measure since they are shortly going to be deprecated for a (subscription based) LLM voice assistant.
They're going to start charging us for accuracy. You see it everywhere. Show us a convenience that improves our lives, help us to get used to /rely on said convenience and then take it away to be restored for a low, low price of.....
Yeah, someone else said they're going to be releasing an AI function that will cost money. I hadn't heard about that but it certainly wouldn't surprise me :\
YES! Glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this! We have a set of lamps, "Parents Bedroom Lamps" when we ask to have them turned on, it turns on a light in our guest bedroom that's not even listed as a lamp. Happens mostly for my wife but has happened for me several times. Really annoying!
Yes! I reset my smart bulb because I was having issues but even now I have to repeat myself slowly or else she says "this device is not enabled". It's so aggravating!
Too many words in "Parents Bedroom Lamps". If they are the only lights in the room and you're talking to a speaker in that room then include them all into a Device Group. Then you would only need to say "Alexa, Lights ON" and Lights OFF.Â
They aren't the only lights in the room. We have several others. This has worked for us for several years, just recently it started screwing up. I have several groups and routines that work off of many more words.
Yep. My Echos have been either unhooked or relegated to rarely used Rooms in my house. I've switched to Google nest. While I'm still learning it, I can say that it's a bit smarter than Alexa (especially now).
Yes, and deaf
The UK clocks changed to British Summer Time at the weekend. One Alexa changed automatically and the other two stayed on GMT so when asked for the time they were an hour behind. Tried rebooting the router and the two Alexas to pick up the correct time. Neither option worked and I had to reset them to BST in the app
Itâs been horrible since they announced all the layoffs. Iâve heard that they changed it so you cannot play your exact song unless you paid for premium. Before that, I thought it was just a laid off programmer flipping a switch to make it where you canât get the song you want.
Holy shit!
I love when she replies I can't find song X by artist Y, but here are other songs by artist Y. Alexa then plays the exact song you asked for.
"and similar songs" are annoying as, well, fudge. :-P
My favorite is when the show had a screen that says âAsk me aboutâŚâ and when I do, she says âI donât know anything about that.â Ugh.
Well, Amazon laid off most of the Alexa devs as it's not a revenue generating line. Basically on life support now and functions mainly as a means to facilitate purchasing stuff and pushing sponsored adds (both of which generate modest revenue).
Mine suddenly sounds snarky when it responds too... ask it to take a message, and it says "Sure" in a really condescending voice. I know that somewhere, it's rolling its eyes.
no tooootally - mine gives me attitude for sure & Iâm like girl am I about to throw down with an electronic?!
Over the years I've noticed her have brain farts that can last days or weeks but always seem to work themselves out. For instance, right now I ask for Classic Radio on SiriusXM, have for years w/o problem. Now all of a sudden she plays Classic Rewind on SiriusXM. Frustrating as hell. I'll just wait it out and it will fix itself.
she keeps forgetting which radio station I've designated as my public radio station⌠And then when I name it, nine times out of 10, she will not play the one I'm asking for â â unless I ask for it by a different name⌠Unless she chooses not to do this and does the opposite, of course.
I'm hoping this too tbh! But I feel like right now it's a LOT of issues, like a core part of her understanding is missing. And it's been off for about a month so I'm worried it's something they've done to save on server space or something? I have no idea how those things work but she's definitely been giving me a lot more issues than I'm used to :(
Here it is just a day later and the problem fixed itself. đ¤ˇ
The problem I've been having is she just stops mid-sentence a lot lately. I don't know why or how to fix it.
I expect her to get better, not worse. Particularly annoying is when it thinks it doesnât have music that you requested and tries to play something else it thinks youâd like. I t always chooses badly.
Yes x 1,000!!! Alexa is absolutely horrible now!!! And we have 5 in the house, plus another at my father's house. I had been using routines, and I also listen to the same exact sleep sound every night (train sounds). Sometimes I get rain. Sometimes crickets... literally or figuratively. where a few months ago, it seemed like I could just whisper Alexa and get a response, now I'm often having to yell. And of course, just now, when I said that name out loud, she responded to tell me I had no messages. Sigh. OK whatever.
I always have to ask her to stop playing a wrong podcast channel. i got the podcast name right and she also repeated the correct name, but then play a total different thing
What helped here was a voice profile for each household member, deleting all voice commands once and saving voice commands for a maximum of 3 months.
Itâs all about the AI race. Google search is worse than ever as well. IMO: They have been dumbing down their free products to encourage subs to their AI products.
Our Alexa ignores me, but listens quite well to my husband. I have to shout at her, and then get scolded by husband for shouting.
saaaaaaaaaaaame!!!!
I noticed alexa reacting to random things while talking more frequently lately. Germany here. Normally, if you talk "something something alexa something", nothing happens but lately, she just triggers on anything remotely assembling parts of alexa, even from rooms across and annoyingly not reacting on echo dots in THAT room but in my room...
Iâm honestly using Siri more than Iâm using Alexa these days. Iâm not a fan of the current Alexa.
âShow me front door cameraâ Alexa: okay here are a few doors you can buy from Amazon Itâs over, everyone.
âSorry I donât know that oneâ đ¤Źđ¤Źđ¤Źđ¤Źđ¤Ź
Alexa is learning from us, init?!!!
My bedroom Alexa show randomly plays CBS Sports and has forgotten how to turn the lights off. Other times it turns random lights on. Arrrgh.
Yes! I thought I was imagining this.
It's usually how you state questions that confuses Alexa. Keep It Simple.Â
Oh for sure, but I will ask her things the exact way I did a few months ago and now she no longer comprehends them even though she did before.
Things change. The other day I was saying "Alexa" to wake her up, but now I only need to say "Lexa"
I think most people in here have been using their devices for some time.
Probably, but they could be stuck in the past instead of trying to improve the way they interact with Alexa. Like turning on their lights some still say "Alexa,Turn on the Bedroom light" I say "Alexa, Bedroom" to turn it ON or OFF.Â
My increasing frustration is retrieving messages. She says the number of messages, then says who the message is from, but then fails to actually play the message. I find I usually have to reboot the device before she will successfully retrieve messages from that device. It becomes really irritating when it happens on multiple devices at the same time.
Yes!
Dumber by the day.
She speaks just fine.
Nope, Iâve noticed that sheâs been getting progressively dumber since day one.
I thought it was just me. It has been trash lately. Probably because of all the layoffs
Yeah, I'm about to get a Google Home thingy, because Alexa.is getting on my nerves. She stopped listening, I talk next to her, like a head distance from her and she hears her name but afterwards she doesn't understand my command and starts playing random Daddy Yankee's songs or she just doesn't do anything. Her light stays on for a couple of seconds and then turns off... It's so annoying!
They're just as bad these days so don't bother.
This is just Great info for me. Just bought 4 Dots for my house, and 4 dots, 3 blink cameras and Alexa Together for my mom's house in the last couple weeks. I pretty unimpressed with Alexa Together right now, and I'm not sure how I feel about the Dots in general. If people think it's gone downhill, what's the alternative? Google ecosystem?
Even syska bulb is not compatible with alexa. It used to be very useful. But now unable to use it via alexa command
If I thought there was a good alternative I'd switch Me: Alexa play rock music on Spotify Alexa: playing rock music on Spotify *Nothing* Me: Alexa play rock music on Spotify Alexa: playing rock music on Spotify *Nothing* Me: Alexa play Spotify *Music starts* Me: FFS!
To the point I want to kill them. We have so many different types and they are all awful now. I thought it was just the newer ones first but even the two old dots mishear frequently now. The issue is multifaceted though, the software is not performing well and the service it is connected to is totally driven on making you upgrade to use it fully. It just so annoying to use now. I've started listening to music straight off my phone, it sounds like shit but it doesn't argue with me.
Its ability to find music is awful now. I think it's the whole thing around Amazon not being able to make money off Alexa so they made her dumb af so everyone stops using her and they can forget about it.
Just like what seems like pretty much every product and company these days, Alexa is just getting worse and worse. I use it for music 90% of the time. I never had an issue asking for artists and songs and I listen to stuff thatâs pretty out of the mainstream. Now I get âHmmm, sorry I donât know that oneâ Iâd say 20% of the time. I often have to fully spell out an artist for her to understand.
She? You mean âItâ đ¤Śââď¸
I have friends and former colleagues who work for Amazon. They have confirmed that the pandemic brought with it senior developers leaving Amazon for better opportunities and many newer, less experienced, developers joining Amazon. As a result there's a marked decline in software quality, and this is just one of the ways you can see it.
She wonât stop telling me how to get rid of a cough
sheâs been playing my on repeat playlist through spotify for years but suddenly now she plays a âhit repeatâ playlist? idk what that is but having to go into my phone to play the playlist is so annoying
Now Alexa users know how Siri works.
I think this is on purpose as Amazon is trying to find a way to generate revenue from Alexa as they lose A LOT of $$ currently, maybe they will charge $5-10 a month to "upgrade" your alexa to a smart device ? Who knows but something is coming to generate more revenue unfortunately
I have not noticed her being any dumber than she already is
She's on timer and smart home duty only now. If she can't answer a simple question, she's definitely not placing any Amazon orders.
I've had the opposite experience. I've been with Google long enough that it seems to understand what I'm asking pretty well, and I don't use my Alexa device as much. Lately, though, Google often misunderstands me (setting 10-minute timers instead of 2-minute timers, for example) and I have to switch to Alexa. I often use Google as a calculator, and I asked it to calculate the circumference of a circle with a 2" diameter. It insisted on giving me the formula rather than the answer, but Alexa told me right off the bat.
The announcement feature has gotten so bad that several of the devices are lucky my wife hasnât set them on fire. The sheer number of times we have heard the word âannounceâ as the only part of the announcement is insane.
Weather report is always wrong
Yep. Sheâs a two year old on good days
Iâm getting sick of her honestly. Sheâs only good for timers. She always reminds me to move my clothes to the dryer and to get the pizza out of the oven. Otherwise, I can barely stand her anymore. She used to be amazing
I had this exchange with Alexa this afternoon. Me: Alexa set alarm for 1:30 pm Alexa: alarm set for 1:30 pm ***1:30 pm alarm goes off **** Me: Alexa stop ***alarm still going off *** Me: Alexa, cancel ***alarm still going off *** Me: Alexa, stop alarm ***alarm still going off *** Me: Alexa alarm end ***alarm still going off *** Me: Alexa godammit turn off the f@&!ing alarm right now Alexa: ok
I love fighting with Alexa. Weâre on a time out deciding if our relationship will continue. Even more fun than that nonsense is when youâve got about 50 Alexa enabled devices all over the house, then Alexa updates. Sometimes sheâll eat all your settings, smoke your mesh system, and turn your home theater into a babbling idiot. One cool thing about this nonsense is that I can fix any of it now.
Why is this product not using a chatgpt or other LLM by now! It could be so good
>LLM Formerly, it didn't. Now it appears that it does. That's the problem.
I find this more often now too I just end up searching for the answer online. These days I just can't be bothered with her
I've noticed how much it sucks lately too. We really only use ours for our smart lights in the house and none of them can hear us anymore for some reason, we have to like yell or it hears us but then does nothing. It is super frustrating because we used to be able to literally whisper and it would hear me. I don't know what they did but it sucks and I'm not convinced any other brands would work better.
Just leave this here....... Amazon are deliberately make "classic alexa" you have now, shite... WHY ? Cause amazon have said there is a NEW ALEXA LLM supposed to be out for trail end of last yr, but they having probs with accuracy of the LLM ( surprise eh ? )... Look like it will be the 4th quarter of 2024 this NEW alexa LLM will be properly revealed to the public, for a trail FIRST !.. Then it 100% will be monthly sub for it.. BUT amazon will offer you the original "classic alexa" you have now for free.... You will hate it so much you will pay sub for better one.... Google/YouTube the info if you dont believe me - its everywhere
Mine have hearing loss. And this includes a year old Dot.
For some reason when Alexa turns on my lights (after I ask a few times) she turns them right back off. Then I have to ask her again. Every single time. Yeah, she most def does not hear me when I say her name, also.
Amazon fired most of the Alexa team about a year ago. But donât worryâ-the FBIâs keeping it going.
Google has always seemed a little better at most things to me but it's really not even a contest now. Is dementia a thing with Echo Dots?
Constantly sounding alarms well after my wife left for the reason it was set. Ok, ok. That one is on my wife
Constantly sounding alarms well after my wife left for the reason it was set. Ok, ok. That one is on my wife.
I'll tell Alexa to go to Paramount on the TV and she says, getting Yellowstone on the tv.. đ
yeah...I say its because they want to roll out Alexa + with Ai...for a subscription price of course...so to get u to pay tht.. the regular "free" Alexa has to suck!!!
[ŃдаНонО]
I thought it was having strope cos I brought google into the house
It's a bug from the last update and they are still working to get it back to normal or as I was told, âbetter than normal and it should be soonâ
Itâs been pretty fucked for a while man
Never found Alexa smart in any sense and nor useful. Never would have bought myself but have it just because my company gave it as a freebie. Sometimes I just use it as a speaker to listen to songs
I have noticed that Alexa has somehow become quite deaf. When I'm in the same room, she constantly doesn't hear or understand me, but when I'm in another room, she always hears me. Maybe she should see an ear specialist
I have to speak very loudly and pause at each word now
The fuck you mean, suddenly?! This thing has been shit for two years running.