Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs in the unit that handles its popular voice assistant Alexa as it plows more resources into artificial intelligence.

A new study says Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants could do a better job giving instructions on CPR to help bystanders respond in emergencies.

The holiday season is a busy time of year for Amazon delivery drivers. After all, helping Santa deliver last-minute gifts is no easy task.

Alexa, play “Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C!

Amazon’s Alexa might soon replicate the voice of family members - even if they’re dead.

Would you like it if Alexa could read your mind?

Calling all tech folks with Amazon devices in your house! You now have one week to opt-out of a program that may put your private information at risk.

It might not have seemed likely early in the pandemic, but the 55th Super Bowl Sunday is upon us yet again. Amazon shows off a sexy new body for its Alexa assistant, Dan Levy apologizes for eating M&M's and Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade makes a downpour of lemons a metaphor for 2020's troubles. AdInspiration4 “ Join Us "In what is surely a first in Super Bowl history, an ad for Inspiration4, a SpaceX supported all-civilian space mission touts a chance for viewers to join the mission. Dan Levy of “Schitt’s Creek” apologizes to the M&M anthropomorphic characters that are Super Bowl mainstays and says he promises not to “eat any more of their friends." And E-Trade, famous for the talking baby ads it ran in the Super Bowl from 2008 until they “retired" in 2014, is back in the big game with an undisclosed ad.

Amazon and Google told CNN Business the security issue has since been fixed. With the latest issue, SRLabs found hackers could have exploited the access Amazon and Google give third-party app developers to improve apps. In videos posted to YouTube, SRLabs showed how an app that works with Alexa or Google's voice assistant could be programmed by a hacker. The voice assistant was then silent. After a few minutes, the voice assistant said there was a company update and asked the user to say their password.

It's official, Alexa can now speak Spanish. Amazon says the virtual assistant's second language can now be accessed through its supported Echo and Alexa built-in-devices. There's a new Spanish voice for Alexa, along with local knowledge and hundreds of skills, according to the company. Amazon says customers can switch to "Espanol" mode via the Alexa app. The multilingual mode allows a user to get an answer in the same language as the question.

You can now request that recordings of your voice used by Amazon's Alexa be automatically deleted. Amazon says it saves Alexa commands to improve service, but the practice has raised concerns with privacy experts. Previously users had to go into Alexa's settings and delete recordings manually. Now, users can ask Amazon to delete recording after three months or 18 months automatically. Users can change this in their settings.

(CNN) - Alexa is about to get real Samuel L. Jackson. Amazon will introduce Jackson as the first celebrity voice for its Alexa virtual assistant later this year, the company said Wednesday. Here are a few fun requests Amazon suggests you try after setting up Jackson's voice on your Echo:"Alexa, ask Samuel L. Jackson where he is from." "Alexa, ask Sam to wake me up at 7 a.m.""Alexa, ask Sam Jackson to sing happy birthday." They can just head over to the settings menu of the Alexa app to select between clean and explicit content.

The company announced at its Seattle headquarters a series of new products coming to its lineup, including a new $59 Echo dock smart speaker with a built-in clock. As expected, Amazon unveiled its own high-end Echo speaker, called Echo Studio, to compete with some companies such as Sonos that already offer Alexa-compatible premium speakers. Over the past five years, the market for smart speakers that use virtual assistants has ballooned. According to data from tech market researcher Canalys, companies including Amazon, Google, and Baidu shipped 26.1 million smart speakers in the second quarter of this year. Amazon is sitting on top of this market: Canalys reports Amazon shipped a quarter of these speakers, or an estimated 6.6 million between April and June.

Starting Wednesday, McDonald's Corp. will let job seekers start an application by using voice commands with Amazon's Alexa or Google's Assistant. If users say, "Alexa, help me get a job at McDonald's," Alexa will ask which country they want to work in and play McDonald's catchy "I'm lovin' it" jingle. Alexa also shares some facts about working for the company, such as how it can lead to jobs in other fields. For McDonald's, voice-initiated hiring is a way to stand out in a tight job market. McDonald's is currently seeking 338 part-time crew workers in the New York area and 414 in Toronto, according to company hiring sites.

Amazon wants to keep a commanding presence in the fast-growing virtual assistant space. According to data from tech market researcher Canalys, companies including Amazon, Google, and Baidu shipped 26.1 million smart speakers in the second quarter of this year. Amazon is sitting on top of this market: Canalys reports Amazon shipped a quarter these speakers, or an estimated 6.6 million between April and June. Amazon has been working to keep its momentum: Last September, Amazon introduced Alexa-controlled products ranging from the expected (more Echo smart speakers) to the surprising (a $60 AmazonBasics microwave that can warm food via voice commands such as, "Alexa, heat up one cup of coffee" when used with an Echo device). Amazon may also show off new ways to use the virtual assistant outside the home.

In the wake of the recent backlash, Amazon is changing its settings so people can opt out of having their voice recordings reviewed by humans. But now, by opting out, a user's voice recordings will no longer be included in programs that involve human review of Alexa requests, according to the spokesperson. For those looking to restrict access to their Alexa voice recordings, the process has several steps and the language can be a little tricky to parse. To delete any existing Alexa recordings, people can go to the Privacy screen and select "Review Voice History." There's also a feature that allows deletion by voice, which lets people delete recordings by saying "Alexa, delete what I just said" or "Alexa, delete everything I said today."