Amazon opens Hindi Alexa+ beta for Indian users

Amazon has begun recruiting users in India to beta test a Hindi-language version of its generative AI assistant, Alexa, marking the company's first major effort to bring the conversational tool to a non-Western language market. The company sent emails to select customers this week, inviting them to fill out a form in Hindi by June 22 to join the testing program.

The invitation stated that participants would be notified when the Hindi testing experience becomes available and that their feedback would be important to refine Alexa's capabilities. Amazon confirmed it is conducting the test but did not provide further details or a launch date for the service in India. The company warned that the beta software may contain bugs, provide inaccurate information, or mispronounce local nuances.

This move represents a significant expansion for Alexa, which became available to all users in the United States in February of this year. Since then, Amazon has expanded the assistant's availability to several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, and France. India would be its first major market with a primary language outside of...