Say goodbye to Amazon Alexa's celebrity voices
Say goodbye to Amazon Alexa's celebrity voices
You'll no longer be able to ask Samuel L. Jackson, Melissa McCarthy or Shaquille O'Neal to add carrots to your shopping list
Amazon Alexa is still an incredibly useful digital assistant. I find myself using it almost every day, mainly to set timers when I’m in the kitchen or to play Jack Black’s Peaches song for the hundredth time.
However, if you’ve bought one of the three celebrity voices available for your Alexa device, your relationship is about to come to an abrupt end. Amazon is getting rid of all the fun voice options – even if you paid for them.
The celebrity voices included Samuel L. Jackson, Melissa McCarthy and Shaquille O’Neal. They originally cost $0.99 at launch but eventually went up to $4.99. You could then use one of the three celebrities instead of the regular Alexa voice, and also activate your device by saying “Hey [celebrity name]”.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Alexa celebrity voices
👋 Amazon is removing celebrity voices from Alexa
😟 Samuel L. Jackson, Melissa McCarthy, and Shaquille O’Neal all provided voiceovers for the smart assistant
📞 Users will have to request a refund as they won’t be issued automatically
🥊 Alexa is facing stiff competition from ChatGPT and other voice assistants these days
“After three years, we’re winding down celebrity voices,” Amazon spokesperson Eric Sveum said in a statement to The Verge. “Customers will be able to continue using these voices for a limited time, and can contact our customer service team for a refund.”
You have until June 7 to listen to Samuel L. Jackson’s voice, and those who purchased McCarthy or Shaq’s voices will be able to converse with the celebs until September 30, 2023.
A note has been added to the Amazon page for the Samuel L. Jackson celebrity personality for Alexa, as well as to McCarthy and Shaq’s product pages to notify users. If you stumped up $1 or $5 for any of the three voices, Amazon is providing refunds on request, but you won’t get one automatically unless you ask.