What is Amazon’s new ‘Explore with Alexa’ feature for kids?

Kids love to ask questions. When they’re not asking grown-ups, they’re asking Alexa more than 25 million questions a month. They ask Alexa to tell them stories while they get ready for bed. They ask for a joke or a fart sound or to play music—and they really love to ask Alexa questions about animals and nature, like, “What is an orca whale?”

These interactions, driven by kids’ boundless curiosity for the world around them, inspired us to make Alexa even more fun, helpful, and interactive for the kids in our lives. Now, we’re excited to announce Explore with Alexa, a new exclusive addition to the Amazon Kids+ content service that makes it fun for kids to engage in a curiosity-driven, kid-friendly chat with Alexa.

Here’s everything you need to know about Explore with Alexa.

What is Explore with Alexa, exactly?

Coming soon, when kids ask Alexa a question about animals and nature, Alexa will respond with fun facts and trivia questions adapted from trusted sources like World Wildlife Fund and A-Z Animals and will encourage kids to keep exploring a topic. When kids ask for a joke or an animal sound, Alexa may ask them if they want to hear something interesting, encouraging them to keep exploring a topic with fun facts and trivia. Kids can also learn on demand by saying, “Alexa, let’s explore animals” or “Alexa, tell me an animal fact” and hear responses themed around the wonder of animals and nature.

When will Explore with Alexa be available?

Explore with Alexa will be available on Amazon Kids+ before the holidays.

What makes Explore with Alexa different from Alexa for Kids?

Currently, on Alexa for Kids, when a kid asks Alexa, “What are orcas?” they might get a response like, “The orca, also called ‘killer whale,’ is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus and is recognizable by its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, orcas can be found in all of the world’s oceans in a variety of marine environments, from Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas.”

But coming soon with Explore with Alexa, kids will get a fun, more conversational response like, “Orca whales have long, sleek bodies that travel through the ocean kind of like a submarine. These animals can travel up to 35 miles per hour. This helps them to hunt and capture fish, seals, and other sea life! Do you want to keep exploring?”

How does Explore with Alexa work technically?

For the first phase of this new experience, the Alexa Kids science and engineering team used a protected version of our large language model stack to transform Alexa’s trusted knowledge base into kid-friendly, fun facts and trivia questions. Adapting existing content from trusted sources, we will generate tens of thousands of potential responses, involve expert kids writers in a review process, then add the responses to Explore with Alexa for kids to discover.

Does Explore with Alexa use generative AI?

Yes! With new advances in generative artificial intelligence (generative AI), Alexa can now generate content faster and at scale, with the Amazon Kids team in the loop throughout the process. Building on our long-term commitment to preserve the trust of our customers and their families, Explore with Alexa puts trust and safety at the forefront, as well. This purposeful approach to integrating AI is one of multiple trust and safety guardrails that we’ve put in place for kids. Alexa also gracefully redirects kids back to the conversation at hand and away from inappropriate or sensitive content.

Can we expect more from Explore with Alexa in the future?

As we expand the magic and capabilities of Explore with Alexa, and continue to validate and support our approach to AI for Amazon Kids, our models will do even more, including cover an even wider range of topics kids are interested in exploring. We’ll also add video content and ways for grown-ups to personalize their kids’ experiences. Explore with Alexa will continue to be more fun and helpful, actively guiding kids through playful, curiosity-driven conversations to discover new, interesting aspects of their favorite topics.

“Since we launched Alexa for Kids five years ago, we’ve learned so much about how kids interact with Alexa, what they ask, and how we can provide interesting and relevant content that kids love and parents trust. It’s from that learning, and doing our best to keep up with kids’ curious minds over the years, that guided the creation of Explore with Alexa,” said Alanna Nielsen, director of Amazon Kids. “Explore with Alexa will help make our trusted library of kids content bigger and better, developing more kid-friendly responses to encourage kids to learn and explore, and always with trust and safety at the forefront.”

Next, read more about our latest devices for kids, the all-new Echo Pop Kids and the new Fire HD 10 Kids and Fire HD 10 Kids Pro, plus more great new exclusive experiences on Amazon Kids+, our award-winning content service designed just for kids.