Amazon is ending is the promotion of having its Alexa devices speak in the voices of celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy. The celebrity voice “add-on packs” were able to mimic the voices of famous celebs, and interact with users in a variety of ways that Alexa does, whether it be answering questions about trivia, or telling humorous jokes. The voice packs had been priced at $4.99 each; customers who already purchased them will be able to keep the Shaq and McCarthy voices until September 30th, while Jackson’s voice will be removed much sooner, on June 7th.ย
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Amazon customers and industry analysts began noting that Alexa was quietly beginning to phase out its celebrity voices when the following notice was found on the page for Samuel L. Jackson’s Alexa voice add-on:ย
“Samuel L. Jackson’s Alexa voice is no longer available for purchase. Customers who previously purchased the experience may continue to use the skill until April 2023 by saying ‘Hey Samuel.’” Since the change in service has been noticed, Amazon has spoken up about it, without offering any concrete reason why now is the time to phase it out:ย
“After three years, we’re winding down celebrity voices,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement (viaย Variety). “Customers will be able to continue using these voices for a limited time, and can contact our customer service team for a refund.”ย
What Are Amazon Alexa Celebrity Voice Packs?ย
The Samuel L. Jackson voice pack was launched for Alexa devices back in 2019, with the Shaq and McCarthy add-ons dropping in 2021. The promotion was meant to help spark sales of Alexa devices, by giving consumers a novelty worth picking up the device. It doesn’t seem like it was the draw it was meant to be, as Amazon has experienced some financial hardships in the last year, resulting in some sweeping cost-cutting initiatives that include mass firings, with Amazon Stores group and the People, Experience, and Technology division being hit particularly hard. Celebrity Alexa voices would seemingly be an easy cut to make, as the cost of getting the celebs and having them record hours of vocal responses to train the AI is high, and the returns on sales probably didn’t justify it. At all.ย
So, if you own any of these celebrity voice add-ons and haven’t dusted it off in a while, you may want to. They’ll soon be a thing of the past.ย
