Amazon has asked Alexa to ‘shut up’, and is developing a new ‘Brief Mode’ to replace some of its virtual assistant’s verbal replies with non-verbal signals (e.g. beeps).
‘Brief Mode’ will likely appease owners who frequently get frustrated by their digital assistant’s lengthy responses, and sporadic interruptions.
When asked to turn off the living room’s lights, in Brief Mode Alexa will simply respond with a ‘beep’, rather than uttering ‘Okay’.
The feature is tipped to rollout to all devices sometime soon.
Amazon is reportedly testing out ‘Brief Mode’ with several consumers. Reddit users were among the first to notice Alexa was responding to certain commands with a ‘beep”.
Some users claim ‘Brief Mode’ can be limited to only some Echo devices in a household, instead of all Alexa-supported products. The feature can be enabled under ‘Settings’.
The development reflects Amazon’s desire to better integrate digital assistants into everyday lives.
