Soon, Amazon's Alexa will start talking in Hindi
Alexa, the AI powering Amazon's Echo line of smart speakers, will soon start talking in Hindi, one of the most spoken languages in India. The Jeff Bezos-led company has announced support for the language and introduced a voice model that developers can use to create Hindi-based Alexa skills. The move would bring Alexa neck to neck with Google Assistant. Here are the details.
Hindi voice model for Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)
While Amazon had teased Hindi support quite a few times, the development was only confirmed when the company launched a Hindi voice model in Alexa Skills Kit. The kit offers a set of self-service APIs and tools to help developers create various voice-driven experiences, or skills, for Alexa. They enable a range of capabilities, serving as the backbone of the smart assistant.
What this means for Alexa users
Alexa already offers tens of thousands of skills capable of performing a range of tasks on a single command. And now, with the Hindi voice models, developers would be able to create the same and many more skills in Hindi. So, essentially, you'd be able to perform tasks like ordering a pizza or a cab by talking to Alexa in plain Hindi.
No experience in speech recognition needed
Amazon has noted that developers don't need experience in speech recognition or natural language processing to use the new model and create Hindi-based skills. "It's easy to start building voice experiences for Alexa in the new Hindi language model," the company said, noting that the move will give developers a headstart to be ready with their skills at the time of Hindi language launch.
However, no word on launch as of now
While the move shows Amazon's intent to boost Alexa's penetration in India, it still remains unclear when exactly the assistant will be able to talk in Hindi. To recall, Rohit Prasad, the head scientist for Alexa, had told IANS that Hindi posed a "contextual, cultural as well as content-related challenge" due to the wide range of accents and dialects used in the country.
