That day in 2018 when Alexa came into our lives

• "20 Minutes", your favorite daily, turned 20 on March 15.

• Through twenty emblematic subjects of these two decades, the editorial staff looks back and recalls certain important events that have punctuated the life of the newspaper.

• Four years ago, your high-tech section shone its spotlight on a birth, that of Amazon's Alexa.

2018, June 13.

Alexa took a long time to come, but the virtual assistant is finally there preceded by a solid reputation since its launch in the United States in 2015, then in Great Britain and Germany.

“You have to consider that Alexa is a complement to the smartphone but does not replace it.

Alexa will find its eldorado in very short interactions: I give you an order, I'm waiting for specific information or a reaction ”, predicts Fred Potter, the founder of Netatmo, for

.

A voice that sounds so real

Three devices integrating Alexa are marketed for its launch in Gaul: the Echo and Echo Dot speakers, but also Echo Spot, a spherical speaker with screen.

In our memories (even if it's not that far away!), Alexa instantly surprised us with its ease of implementation, but also with the quality of its voice interactions.

With her artificial voice that seems so real, she then seems more mature than Google Assistant, already present in France since August 3, 2017.

Thousands of “skills”

200 “skills”, these micro-programs which allow Alexa to be associated with connected objects or service platforms, are available at launch.

Pioneer,

has had its “skill” since 2017: it was launched for expats in the United Kingdom and the United States so that they could access information on the presidential elections.

A mandate later, more than 3,300 "skills" expand Amazon's offer in France.

First, to control its own “Echo” devices, which have continued to evolve.

Then, to control an incredible crowd of now compatible electronic devices by voice: speakers, televisions, robot vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, surveillance cameras... Alexa is everywhere!

Even at my parents-in-law's, sixty-year-olds now connected who manage the lighting in their house by voice command...

Alexa knows the music

Today, the requests of the French to Alexa still mainly concern music.

Questioned by

, Amazon reveals that in 2021, 181 million hours of music were streamed by the French via Alexa.

And one year, Echo devices would also have made it possible to make three times more video calls than in 2020…

2022:

is 20 years old.

Alexa is seven. And

, Spike Jonze's feature film, is 8 years old.

In this anticipation film (Oscar for best screenplay in 2014), Joaquin Phoenix, in love with the digital age, forged a strange relationship with Samantha, the operating system of his computer, capable of talking to him.

Even today, this fascinating and disturbing

challenges more than ever the excesses of artificial intelligence.

According to Amazon, “millions of people say

to Alexa”.

Soon they will also be able to say "I love you Ziggy."

Amazon has started to deploy the male voice of Alexa in France.

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