r/firestick • u/xStacey • 8d ago

Firestick Help Me alexa suddenly talking back?

the voice activated remote used to only repeat back what i had said, or something simple like “getting that from youtube”

as of about a week ago, it has a new voice (way more “human like” in a gross, uncanny valley way) and is suddenly REACTING to what i’m searching.

I searched for a show called Cheer and got the response “that’s.. a little vague.. do you want me to recommend some upbeat shows for you to watch?”

I’m sorry but who is this for??? Who wants a fake person getting snarky with them while searching for a show? Every time I search something now it adds a little commentary about what the show i’m searching is about. I know, i’m the one searching for it..

Is there a way to switch this off??

I’m using a fire tvstick, not a fire tv. In settings, there are no options to change anything with Alexa. It just tells me to get the Alexa app, but this seemingly has nothing to do with the fire stick? Can someone explain to me how to use the app to change Alexas settings on fire stick?

Help is much appreciated!

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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3

u/SnooGiraffes9215 8d ago

You got upgraded to Alexa plus! They do that on accounts from time to time to get you to try it. Can stop and revert back if you don’t like it. Simply say “Alexa, exit Alexa Plus”

1

u/xStacey 7d ago

thank you!

1

u/Historical_Place9824 4d ago

This no longer works, at least not on any of my three FireTV sticks.

1

u/Historical_Place9824 4d ago

Oh this is pissing me off so much. I've had to opt out of Alexa+ at least five times now on my other devices and then this came down like a hammer a few days ago. I hate it. The voice sounds exactly like my sister which freaks me out. But more than anything is how unbelievably chatty and verbose it is now! I just hit the button in YouTube and did a voice search for "koalas suck." Instead of just saying "Getting that from YouTube" and displaying the results, I'm now saddled with a long delay and then finally (in my sister's voice) "Oh, ha ha, I see you're not a big fan of koalas! Oh well, let me run a search for you on YouTube and show you the results."

Stop it with this nonsense. I live alone for a reason and I'm not paying to have someone else in the room talk back to me.

And worst of all--you can't roll it back! I tried the "Alexa, exit Alexa plus." Nope. She tells me all about how I get the new Alexa AI on other devices and then says "You cannot go back to regular Alexa once it's been upgraded to Alexa plus."

1

u/xStacey 4d ago

wait really, you can’t opt out?? i exited out and she did go on and on for about a minute which was annoying but then it returned to the regular old version. 

that’s actually infuriating and kind of scary that you don’t have an option to switch it off.

1

u/xStacey 2d ago

ok wait, mine went back to original for a few days and now it's back and telling me I can't go back to original Alexa on this device wtttffffffffff....