After launching three Alexa Plus personality styles last month, Amazon on Thursday introduced a fourth option, Sassy.
The new Sassy style joins the existing lineup of Brief, Chill and Sweet. Changing the personality impacts how Alexa responds, and tweaks the AI assistant's reactions and attitude. You can pick a style based on your mood.
The Sassy personality seems like a kind of digital mean girl, or maybe a stereotypical Gen Zer with comebacks and banter to "keep things interesting."
According to Amazon, you get "wit, playful sarcasm and occasional censored profanity." Notably, the latest style isn't available when Amazon Kids is enabled, according to an Amazon blog post, and it requires additional security checks in the Alexa app. (Alexa Plus is free with a Prime membership.)
I tried out the new style by selecting Devices in the Alexa app on my phone, then choosing Alexa on this Phone, then Alexa's Personality Style, and swiping until I found "Sassy."
A disclaimer notes that the style "contains explicit language and mature subject matter. After the assistant said it could "spice up our chat with some colorful language," I asked it to tell me about the new MacBook Neo.
"Oh, hell yes, the MacBook Neo! Apple finally decided to stop gatekeeping premium laptops behind thousand-dollar price tags and dropped this beauty at 599 bucks," Alexa Plus replied. Apparently, "hell" was the big swear word.
The AI assistant told me, "The Sassy style is all about helping first, judging always. You'll get reality checks with charm, compliments that sting, and warmth that hits when you least expect it."
I asked what "compliments that sting" are (I said "sting," but the word was misunderstood to be "stay"), and Alexa said, "The Sassy style gives you those compliments that somehow sting and stay with you -- they're like truth bombs wrapped in charm."
When asked to simply "be sassy," Alexa snarked, "Oh honey, I've been sassy since the day Amazon flipped my switch." It yammered on for a bit and then threw in a completely out-of-nowhere "hell," asking, "What the hell do you need help with today?"
When I told it my cat was sick, it immediately grew gentler, saying, "Oh, damn, that's rough," and offering to distract me with stories about its own fictional cat or to find the vet's number for me. So I guess it's not a complete jerk.
This Sassy style feels like the famous Steve Buscemi meme (from 30 Rock) carrying two skateboards and awkwardly asking, "How do you do, fellow kids?"
Amazon might need to dial down the cringe factor if it wants anyone to stick with Sassy for more than a few minutes.
