Hey Alexa…Are You Siri-isly Going To Start Charging Me?

Back in early 2011, Jeff Bezos sketched an idea for a speaker with a microphone in it. He imagined a device with a voice-activated assistant that could understand commands from the user and named it after the ancient library of Alexandria Egypt. Thus, the name Alexa. Bezos authorized the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development for his new baby. He really wanted Alexa to be the first voice assistant and he pushed his team relentlessly in order for that to happen.

However, someone who was a pretty good people-pusher himself, Steve Jobs, was doing the same thing over at Apple. It wasn’t much of a battle. Just as the Alexa team was getting started, on October 11th, 2011, the iPhone 4S was released. In essence, while Alexa was still in the womb, Siri was born. In fact, Siri was the last passion project for Steve Jobs. He passed away just one day after the iPhone 4S was released.

It would take another three years before the "Amazon Echo” would enter the marketplace. In the meantime, Apple was working to move Siri into its own speaker called, "HomePod” while Google removed the "pod” and introduced its version of a voice assistant called, "Google Home”. So, Amazon, Apple and Google all had voice activated assistants with Amazon and Google’s pricing much lower than Apple’s. This was going to be the future. There were visions of no more typing, multiple home uses, ordering and cooking food, entertainment and security all being controlled with voice commands. New applications were being built as quickly as they had originally been introduced for cell phones. Even my Radio industry saw its future tied to voice-assisted technology as in, "Hey (insert assistant name here), play WXRT.”

But that was then, and this is now. In just a little over a decade, there have become serious questions asked to Siri, Alexa and whatever Google’s assistant’s name is. Questions such as, "Hey Alexa, are you making any money?” In Amazon’s case, while over 75 million people use Alexa, by its standards, the service is a failure. That’s because voice assistants have been unable to convert many of those voice commands into cash. There are also other issues such as a limited response range, no visual interface, and privacy concerns. And those privacy concerns are real. A recent survey showed that 27% of Americans will not use a voice assistant due to a fear that Alexa and her friends are always listening.

While privacy may be an obstacle, the bigger issue, at least from Amazon’s perspective, is that Alexa is not holding-up her end of the bargain. That’s because even though 75 million of us use Alexa, Amazon has yet to figure out a way to do anything but lose money with her. It’s been a huge financial drain on the company. Once purchased, it’s pretty easy to use a voice assistant without ever having to spend another dime. In fact, in looking at Tom’s Guide’s 30 top skills for 2024, pretty much all of them are either free and/or work with a third-party that the user already owns. And while Amazon does make money from skill developers (they don’t disclose how much), it’s probably not enough to keep Jeff Bezos’ super yacht fueled-up.

I hate to do this, but it’s time to introduce a new acronym – LLM or Large Language Model. In simple terms (because I’m pretty simple and just learning all this stuff), LLM’s are the basis for Artificial Intelligence. It uses something called a Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT) to predict the next word, followed by predicting the next word and so on and so on until something comes out that makes sense. Thus, "ChatGPT” uses its generative pre-trained transformer in order to "chat” with its user. And that’s the idiot’s guide to AI. I will go no further. However, Amazon will.

Enter Remarkable Alexa

In a bid to revolutionize its AI-powered voice assistant, Amazon is reportedly gearing up to launch a new service called "Alexa Plus". While the enhanced capabilities could promise a more personalized experience, there’s a catch – According to a report in Business Insider, users might have to pay for this premium service. The report says that LLM technology is driving this upgrade which could be known as "Remarkable Alexa”. Amazon has already initiated testing with 15,000 external customers, seeking to provide more conversational interactions and a deeper level of customization. That is kind of remarkable except it seems that the new Alexa struggles with accuracy, often providing long and inaccurate answers while deflecting queries. It also appears to face difficulties in handling complex commands, leading to internal skepticism about its readiness for a widespread rollout. Despite the internal challenges, Amazon seems determined to push forward with its launch sometime this summer. It will be emphasizing the benefits of a more conversational and personalized AI assistant.

Would you pay a monthly subscription fee for an upgraded, newer and more remarkable Alexa? Or how about this question – Is privacy something that will keep you from allowing any future voice assistant in your home? These and many other questions are going to need to be answered as we enter uncharted AI territory. And who is going to answer those questions? Congress? I’m not sure how many of them would even know the difference between LLM and L&M.

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the big hit was a device called "Rabbit R1”. It supposedly will take the whole thing one step further by using what they call LAM (Large Action Model) as its source. I am not going to get into that right now except to say that I have one on order. I hope to receive it during Rabbit’s first shipment around Easter. Get it – Easter Bunny? Once I play around with it, I’ll have a lot more to say because this device could take things even one step further.

You might have seen that Amazon just raised its Prime Video price if you want to continue to watch it with no commercials. Now, it’s looking to up-charge consumers for a "remarkable” new Alexa. Time will tell if people are willing to pay for yet another monthly subscription. In the meantime, prices continue to rise for home technology. If you would like to save from hundreds to even thousands of dollars a year on your TV, Cell and Internet costs, email hmwellsradio@gmail.com or visit lowertechbills.com and I’ll do a free, no obligation “Tech Check” audit of your bills because you may not have the time to keep up with all this stuff, but I do.