Samuel L. Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Melissa McCarthy are leaving the Amazon Alexa building.

Find out more about why Amazon is discontinuing the celebrity voices and how you can receive a refund if you purchased them.

No More Fun Personalities for Alexa

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Image Credit: Amazon

The Verge first reported that the celebrity voices are no longer available to purchase and that Amazon will stop supporting them in the near future.

Jackson’s voice will be available until June 7, 2023. Both the voices of Shaq and McCarthy will work until September 30, 2023.

An Amazon spokesperson told The Verge that anyone who purchased any of the voices can contact the company’s customer service team for a full refund.

All three voices were offered at a $0.99 introductory price and then went up to $4.99.

Jackson’s voice was first introduced in 2019 with Shaq and McCarthy arriving in 2021.

Changing Alexa’s voice to a celebrity was quick and easy. All you needed to do was say “Alexa, introduce me to [celebrity name.]”

While you could still use Alexa, you could also ask the celebrity to provide some fun to the usual voice assistant experience and have them set a timer, tell a story, and much more.

Unlike Alexa, the celebrities could also veer into adult territory by using explicit language. That was especially funny when tapping Jackson for a foul-mouthed story and more.

A Move Away from Paid Alexa Skills

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Amazon didn’t offer a reason for discontinuing the paid voices. But it shows that Amazon is moving away from trying to make money from paid Alexa skills.

While there are many great free skill choices for Alexa, paid skills have never taken off.

And just like other technology companies, Amazon hasn’t been immune to layoffs with many in the division in charge of Echo devices and Alexa.

Another report from Insider says that Amazon is apparently planning to add a number of ChatGPT-like features to Alexa, which isn’t a huge surprise with the rise of AI in 2023.

What’s in Store for Alexa’s Future?

The trio of celebrity voices provided a fun way to liven up the usual Amazon Alexa experience. But Amazon is seemingly focused on shifting the popular voice assistant to a new level to keep up with current technology.