Alexa’s female voice is known to millions, but finally, the company has released a masculine equivalent to pair with named “Ziggy”. And if you want more features out of your smart speaker, you can try out celebrity voices like Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy, but that comes with a $5 fee.
The Echo device could already respond to “Amazon,” “Echo,” or “Computer,” as well as “Alexa.” “Ziggy” is, however, the first name to appear as an option besides “Alexa.”
The name “Ziggy” suggests a masculine theme. Some people assumed it is named after the computer in Quantum Leap. The computer was given masculine pronouns throughout the entire series. However, this fictional Ziggy was voiced by a female.
Although Alexa says, “As an AI, I don’t have a gender.”
However, the celebrity voices can be gendered as they’re living people. But those celebrities voices can respond to just a few limited responses like weather, timers and some personality-specific questions.
There are ways in which you can easily change the voice of Alexa on your Echo devices. You can either use the device itself or through the Alexa app. However, the most suitable way to change the voice on Alexa is through the app.
The process is the same whether you want to change it to Ziggy or any other options. Just say, “Alexa change your voice.” If you have more than one device, Alexa will ask you to specify a device and then respond to one of the choices Alexa gives you.
After that, specify the device you want to change the voice on. When the previous step is successful, Alexa will respond with a new voice. If it is unable to change the voice, it will say something to the effect of “Sorry, (name of your device) doesn’t support that.”
You can also change the voice using the Alexa app for iOS and Android. First, open the Alexa app and go to the “Devices” tab. Next, select the “Echo & Alexa” button in the top-left corner. Then, select the device where you want to change the voice. Next, tap the Settings in the top-right corner. Choose the “Alexa’s Voice” option, and switch to the “New” option to enable the new masculine voice.
However, like Google Assistant, you still don’t have several voices to choose from, but Amazon has offered more than before.
