The Infinite Brief

The recordings are transcribed, annotated and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands.

The Alexa voice review process, described by seven people who have worked on the program, highlights the often-overlooked human role in training software algorithms.

The teams, which work in outposts across the globe, work nine hours a day, with each reviewer parsing as many as 1,000 audio clips per shift.