By now, most people have heard of Alexa, Amazon Web Services\u2019 (AWS) artificial intelligence (AI) persona who can answer virtually any question a user asks her through the Amazon Echo device.<\/p>\n
But, did you know, AWS<\/a> also provides a suite of tools that empowers you to ask similar questions by text message, Facebook Messenger or even an old-school phone call?<\/p>\n The AWS suite includes Amazon\u00a0Pinpoint\u00a0and Amazon Connect. Pinpoint enables searches with email, SMS, push notifications and chatbot devices, while Connect is for calling into a voice assistant through a phone.\u00a0 These tools are powered by a cloud-based AWS application called Lex, which runs on a serverless platform called Lamda.<\/p>\n Accomplishing this feat does require some programming knowledge, however\u2014and that\u2019s where I come in.<\/strong><\/p>\n A few years ago, I embarked on a journey to discover how to make Alexa answer a simple question over a variety of devices. Because I am an outdoors enthusiast who loves surfing almost as much as I love technology, I used the command \u201cAlexa, Where\u2019s the Surf?\u201d to have Alexa help me assess local surfing conditions.<\/p>\n I chronicled my journey through a series of blog posts, where we go beyond voice search with AI technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Alexa, How’s the Surf?: Developing Skills for the Amazon Echo<\/a>— This first blog gives you an overview of Alexa and the basics of programming using the Amazon Echo.<\/p>\nThe Series<\/h2>\n