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Amazon has started to roll out a male version of its smart assistant, called Ziggy, as an alternative to Alexa.
Users of Amazon smart speakers in the US now have the option to choose from either Alexa or Ziggy when they're saying a vocal command.
They can simply say 'Alexa, change your voice' to hear the male voice coming out of their speaker, or go to settings in the Alexa app.
There's a short snippet of Ziggy's voice – which has a generic but robotic-sounding American accent – to listen to here.
Amazon's smart assistant powers the Echo speakers, including the spherical fourth generation Echo released last autumn (pictured)
Amazon's smart assistants power its line of Echo speakers, including the spherical fourth generation Echo released last autumn.
The addition of Ziggy's voice was quietly made by Amazon and first noticed by The Ambient.
It's only available for users in the US for now, but will likely be rolled out worldwide 'with regional twangs' in the near future, the Ambient claims.
An Amazon spokesperson wouldn't reveal anything to MailOnline about Ziggy's UK availability, however.
Technically, Amazon has added 'Ziggy' as one of its 'wake words' – words that users can say before a command to make sure the smart assistant is listening.
The four other already-existing wake words are Alexa, Computer, Amazon and Echo.
Also, users can choose between either the male or female voice and use any of the wake words to activate them.
So this means users could potentially start a command with the word 'Ziggy' and hear the female voice responding, in a gender bending twist.
Also this month, Amazon introduced two celebrity voices that users can opt to hear coming out of their smart speaker – former basketball player Shaquille
