{"id":41848,"date":"2024-01-23T15:19:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T20:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=41848"},"modified":"2024-01-23T15:19:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T20:19:40","slug":"charging-for-remarkable-alexa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/23\/charging-for-remarkable-alexa\/","title":{"rendered":"Charging for “Remarkable Alexa”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scharon Harding<\/a> (via Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

A quote from an anonymous Amazon employee in a Wednesday Business Insider<\/a> report paints a dire picture. Amazon needs its upcoming subscription version of Alexa to drive revenue in ways that its voice assistant never has before.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

All voice assistants have struggled to drive revenue since people tend to use voice assistants for basic queries, like checking the weather, rather than transactions<\/a>.<\/p>

Amazon announced plans to drive usage and interest in Alexa by releasing a generative AI version<\/a> that it said would one day require a subscription<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

I wonder if they’ll include it with Amazon Prime, as I’m hearing more grumbling about whether that subscription is still worth it now that the price has increased, shipping has slowed, and Prime Video will be adding<\/a> commercials<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

menacingly<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I used to find my Alexa devices useful, until they took the widely-discussed quality nosedive and started understanding less than half of what they used to. I can’t think of anything else I’ve purchased that became so markedly worse of a thing after I bought it. 1 experience of misunderstanding stomps out 10 of it working perfectly.<\/p>

I’d read a book on the inside story of the failure of this product. From cute, moderately useful novelty to glitchy, nagging revenue grab that takes it upon itself to come into your home with “offers”. Eroding goodwill, missing the boat on AI you’re naturally leveraged to integrate with your large installed base, it’s shiny object middle management bingo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n