Amazon’s Alexa will now talk to children… with parents’ permission

Have you got one of Amazon’s Echo speakers? If so, you’ll know all about how they’re controlled by voice commands, as you tell the device’s Alexa technology to play your music, dim the lights and so on.

If you’re a parent, you may well have noticed how children are fascinated by this kind of technology. At least, my sons haven’t tired of bundling into my home-office, shouting at Alexa to play music they like, and then running away cackling. Kids today…

There are some sensitive issues around children and ‘smart speakers’ like the Echo though: the way it stores data on what you’ve said to it, and how that stands under laws about children’s privacy, for example. That’s one reason why in Amazon’s latest tablets, the devices for grown-ups have Alexa built-in, but the ones for children don’t.

All of which is a wordy lead-up to the fact that Amazon is starting to explore the idea of children interacting with Alexa through something called “kid skills” – skills are the programs that you can talk to with Alexa, comparable to the role apps play for smartphones.

“Kid skills available today include The SpongeBob Challenge from Nickelodeon, Sesame Street from Sesame Workshop, and Amazon Storytime, as well as several more games including The Tickle Monster Game!, Animal Sounds, Animal sounds quiz, Old Macdonald, Silly Things, and Zoo Walk,” explained Amazon in its announcement.

“Hundreds of developers have already expressed interest in creating kid skills, and we expect the number of kid skills to grow quickly.”

Amazon says parents will have to give their permission every time a new kid-skill is set up on one of its devices, through the Alexa app. The process will also involve sending a code to their mobile phone via text message, to ensure that it really is them giving the permission, rather than their child.

Amazon is also telling developers that they aren’t allowed to include advertising; sell any products, content or services; collect personal data; or include “content not suitable for all ages” in their kid skills.

As much as I’d love to tell you what the Sesame Street and SpongeBob skills are like on Alexa, for now the kid skills will only be available in the US. If you’re there, you can give them a try though: ‘Alexa, open Sesame Street’ or ‘Alexa, start the SpongeBob Challenge’ might be good ones to start with.