"Alexa, what’s my election update?"
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| © Photo: Dan Seifert / The Verge |
By Dami Lee, THE VERGE
In
the days leading up to the US midterm elections on November 6th,
Amazon’s Alexa will be able to tell users information about voter
registration deadlines, polling information, and give real-time election
results. Following the election, Alexa will also be able to give more
details on the outcome, including how many seats each party gained, and
information on specific candidates.
Alexa will be
sourcing its replies from a couple of different partners Amazon’s teamed
up with. In the days before the election, Alexa will be offering
information on voter registration deadlines, polling places and times,
and ballot information from Ballotpedia, a nonprofit, nonpartisan
digital encyclopedia. On Election Day, Alexa will be getting its
real-time election updates from the Associated Press, and will be able
to answer questions such as “Alexa, who’s winning in [state]?” and
“Alexa, how is [candidate] doing in the election?”
In
addition to voice responses, Echo Show devices will be able to provide
visual graphs on its screen in response to questions like “Who won the
[state] Governor race?” and “How many seats do [party] have in the
Senate?” Amazon says that to add to Alexa’s AI and algorithm efforts,
the company is also assembling a “war room” of writers, engineers, and
data scientists to cover major events like the election and make sure
information is as accurate as possible.
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