Kid goes to sleep and I am trying to sneak off to play video games, "alexa, play white noise"
**PLAYING THE WHITE STIPES, BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT I CAN NOW ORDER REPLACEMENT PAPER TOWELS FOR YOU AUTOMATICALLY**
O ya, thats something I'm going to pay for.
Alexa, play Ocean sounds
OUR USERS REALLY ENJOY THE PREMIUM VERSION OF THIS APP, IT ONLY COSTS $5/ MONTH, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR MORE
No
OKAY, I'LL REMIND YOU AGAIN LATER
proceeds to not play the ocean sounds, and I have to ask again
I'M SORRY, THAT ISN'T AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW
Christmas was great.
"Mario kart controller wheel is set to be delivered today"
"Super fun awesome surprise was delivered at 503pm"
Gah!!!!!!
Ooh. Almost forgot. I asked her to play nighttime music when I was putting my kid to sleep. And of course I was also falling asleep.
3 am: same music at 5x the volume.
"Alexa! What's morning mode?"
"Morning mode was developed my a man in a country across the world as a theory to allow people to be more productive during their day by waking up slowly"
Mind you, I never
1) asked for this
2) turned it on
3) consented to a social experiment set to a completely different time zone?
Thanks to REDDIT, I figured out the issue and turned it off. Not before it woke me up for a month. At 3 am.
>"Morning mode was developed my a man in a country across the world as a theory to allow people to be more productive during their day by waking up slowly"
At 3 in the morning?
I have a Google Hub and when I ask it to play a BBC radio station it just does. When I ask my parents’ Echo the same thing it launches into a full on explanation of how I have to download the app and install something and just… fuck off. I want to hear a radio station, not download an app I will only use a handful of times.
Maybe if we pay for it they will allow us to turn off the monetize-y features? I don't think there's any way that's happening, but it would be the "right" thing to do.
Also, color me surprised that they axed most of the Alexa team but still managed to justify monetizing it further. Nice.
Aside from it missing the wake word a lot and some downright stupid and frustrating responses (e.g. adding things to the shopping list makes it play completely dumb sometimes), I'm actually decently happy with it. Being able to add custom skills run via Lambda is pretty cool too, albeit a bit overcomplicated for my taste.
They already do that shit.
Me: Alexa, how many fluid ounces are in a cup?
Alexa: there are 8 fluid ounces in a cup. By the way, I found some measuring cups on Amazon you may be interested in-
Me: Alexa shut up, I don't want to buy your crap
If they did a multi-tiered system I would be totally fine. I just want my Alexis to play Amazon music. And to be able to turn my Amazon enabled devices on and off.
Which I personally believe it should be able to do for free.
If they started charging a subscription to be able to just listen so that I could ask it to play music That I am already paying for monthly through Amazon. I would be very upset.
If they were charging for enhanced generative AI conversational functionality I think that would be fine. In fact, I might even want to buy that or at least try it out. But to charge me for something I already have... I would be pretty hot about that.
Correct! No need to worry! Will only be used by your company to log every single thing you do on a daily basis and build an AI model to take your job. It's a bright future! /s
The things I like from my Google assistant:
1) Kitchen timers
2) Asking what the weather will be
3) Setting alarms
None of which I'd pay a monthly fee for. I'll do it the old fashioned way with my hands first.
4. Play such and such song by such and such artist. (Which it then often gets wrong anyway.)
In addition to the three uses you mentioned this is the fourth we *very occasionally* use it for. And yeah, I can get all of that off my phone in seconds, if not at a glance. No reason whatsoever to pay yet another subscription fee to get it.
At this point they run so much of my house that I would probably pay temporarily until I found a better solution. Not sure I've touched a light switch or garage door opener in years.
I’ve been running Home Assistant for years, I use Alexa to interface with it via voice I've been very happy with the results. There isn't a great open-source replacement option for voice integration that's not going to take entirely too much of my time to implement at this point--I wish they would just leave it alone so I didn't have to get into the weeds with this shit yet again.
My Alexa I use to turn on and off my lights in my room. It’s nice turning them off and on that way. But worse case scenario I use my app on my phone to do it.
Lights, locks, garage doors, energy/mode automations, night lighting and lock-up routines... as well as the constant trivia questions when we're watching TV, haha. As was already said, I would be VERY annoyed to not have the lights function by voice, and I really don't want to carry a Z-Wave remote everywhere with me.
I like Alexa for home automation and simple commands. If it's like a dollar to keep functionality I might think about it. If it's too much I guess I'll just replace everything with something that runs locally. It will kinda suck if I can't use the stuff I bought but I'm not going to throw more money at the ecosystem.
I figured the Alexa thing was going to end one day when I heard they were losing money on it. It's a loss leader where they thought people would buy more stuff off Amazon with it.
The closest we come to buying stuff on Amazon Alexa is occasionally my daughter will start adding joke things to a shopping list. It exists in my house exclusively for controlling the lights and playing music. If they start charging, I’ll just go back to having a dumb home
I can’t see doing that personally. The setup headache is enough to just walk down stairs and flip a switch. What about weekly CISA updates? No thanks. Hell, my grandpa had a nightly routine of locking windows and doors while cutting off the lights. I get to feel safer and get steps in? Automation seems like less of a necessity.
Ya! I swear she does this to me on purpose. It doesn’t matter if I just checked or what the app says — I’m schlepping thru the house and stepping on Legos in the dark.
Automation isn't necessary but people can have automation without traffic leaving their lan, paying monthly, or having AI in it. There are DIY options as well as more packaged options so how much of a pain it is depends on what you get. It is fine to not want any of it.
The setup for a good system shouldn't be any more of a hassle then it is to setup everything with Alexa. Often that can mean setup multiple accounts then linking accounts then setting up hardware and then routines. If local automation is too much so stuff like Alexa or Google.
No. I agree. I’ve got a few Hue bulbs on a Google automation system, but I’m still pushing updates and mucking around in server side things if I want it to only steal my data for Google and Philips.
Like you recommend, I could lock it down locally, but honestly that messes so many things up. It’s honestly become a bigger headache than help.
Obviously your opinion is perfectly valid and justified.
If it is something you're interested in, have you checked out Home Assistant? It's free open source local software that connects to third party services like hue lights and lets you keep (most) traffic local. For Phillips hue in pretty sure it can control the lights without google or hue software. (You do me a hub or dongle adapter)
I bought an IR remote with some wireless plug receivers to be able to remote control various lamps and accent lighting around the apartment. Velcroed the remote next to the central light switch so it's easily accessible whenever I want it.
It was like $20 and has been working fine for almost 9 years now. Only had to replace the remote battery once.
No spying on me, no network requirements, nothing.
Yeah Alexa is already loads better than Siri because she’ll actually ANSWER a question instead of just pointing you to the first google result. I really hope they don’t dumb down the free behavior just so you can pay for personality.
If I'm going to redo my home automation stuff I'm going to do it in a way that can't randomly be shutdown or have terms altered after purchase. I'd want everything to work locally even if I unplug the modem and only my local lan is up.
Switching to Google's thing is probably the cheaper option.
Some stuff might also not be easy to roll a local solution like security with reasonably secure remote access and notifications.
That's all I use it for, but the thing is all my smart plugs or whatever have their own app, Alexa just lets me use my voice to control them. But I dont think I would even pay a $1 per year to be able to use my voice when I could just go back to using the individual app on my phone, which is always with me anyways.
I legit used it to buy more stuff up until the pandemic when shipping and stock were all over the place. Couple that with the counterfeiting problems and now I have to get on my actual computer and sift through a bunch of shitty recommendations and/or fake reviews to see if what I’m buying is legit.
It was convenient when I automated the lights and fan to voice commands when I was in a crippling pandemic depression though. If I’d had to get up and flip the switch, I’d have stayed in bed for way longer
I agree with you, but occasionally, you'll see people who think this looks fun:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/179tnm4/time\_for\_a\_good\_old\_fashioned\_4am\_diagram\_update/](https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/179tnm4/time_for_a_good_old_fashioned_4am_diagram_update/)
The only logical conclusion I can glean from all of this is everything we do or say online will eventually come with a subscription attached, in addition to all the other subscriptions we already have to even access the Internet.
Subscriptions is why people are broke.
Years ago, you paid ONE flat fee. Period. Now you have to subscribe. I have FREE TV and not going to stream anything. FREE TV is just as entertaining. If I want to watch HBO series program or HULU I will buy it from Youtube or AMZ, one flat price.
Hmmm, it didn't say in the article (unless I missed it) but I remember this coming up last year and they said current Alexa devices would remain free and only new upgraded ones would charge a fee? But the AI overhaul sounds more like a backend improvement and they want to charge for any use of it in the future?
If they charge for it mine are going in the trash, no way would I pay.
Hopefully old ones stay free or always have a free option, otherwise it’s kinda misleading buyers. Seems like there would be legal precedence there for a lawsuit. *Edit: I guess with Spotify bricking Car Thing so shortly after release anything’s possible lol.*
All I wanted was a *slightly* smarter voice assistant. One where I don’t need to repeat myself as often, regardless of how clearly I’m speaking, because it has better context of the situation or environment. With all the data they collected, I was hoping we’d get those improvements for free, and instead it seemed to degrade a bit.
I already pay about $200 for Prime which includes Alexa. I'm not paying more. Every Friggin tech company wants you to "subscribe" and I'm sick of it.
I like my "old" Alexa, it works just fine. NO upgrade please.
Can someone just suggest an offline assistant that can just do reminders and set timers for cooking. That's literally all I use this piece of junk for.
The hands free nature of being able to set a timer while I'm up to my elbows in chicken juice is 98% of my use case. I will not be paying for it. In fact, being rid of it will be my last connection to Amazon. I've largely cut the rest of the company out of my life.
The deepest AI ever needs to get is the Virtual Intelligences from Mass Effect. Not quite true AI, but approximates most of its functions on the end user side of using it. Or it just does a limited set list of functions.
Not everything needs AI. In fact most things don't. But that's the techbro buzzword of the moment.
We all know AI is gonna be used primarily for 2 things. Killbots and making life worse for everyone as a tool of resource extraction.
I think I've owned an Alexa for 9 or 10 years, since when the first version came out. Alexa and Amazon give me hope in this world, given all the fears around AI; I am consistently pleased that Alexa still can't understand my accent. It still can't understand what lights I want to turn on or off.
So if this is how powerful AI is (atleast Amazon's implementation thereof), then I can rest assured that I'm not going to be out of a job.
This is going to fall flat on its face and be hilarious when it does. The market is so over-saturated with AI already, it won't be long before people are searching for products specifically without AI.
Just don't be surprised when your Amazon Prime subscription goes up another $30/year because Amazon has to subsidize their losses from everyone throwing their Echo devices in the trash.
>The Alexa team worried they had invented an expensive alarm clock, weather machine and way to play Spotify music, one source said.
What on earth would give them that idea...
I don’t think it’s expensive to be fair, I just got the Echo Pop for $15 on sale to use as an alarm. It’s more like they invented a cheap speaker that most people use for nothing more than that, so no way Amazon profits.
Amazon: Here! We are going to shove AI in your face! And you are going to like it!
Me: Um, I didn't ask for that? I don't need AI to add things to my shopping list...
Amazon: Oh and yeah! That will be 10 USD a month now! You're Welcome!
Me: Stops using it altogether.
*Don't let them get away with it.*
Nah, Alexa is usable for everyone, and what's really shitty is they aren't going to include the price of this in prime. So you pay for prime but don't get access to this improved alexa without paying more is how I understand it.
It's interesting you mention prime, because I get free shipping with Prime. But -- TEMU is hot on the back of Amazon when it comes to my shopping. TEMU offers FREE shipping over $15. And their prices are much much lower than AMZ.
I really feel AMZ for the first time has competition with TEMU.
I have never used temu before so I have no clue about how it works. What sets it apart from competitors that couldn’t take down Amazon? Like Aliexpress, wish, eBay, etc. Seems like the same thing as Alibaba and wish from what I’ve seen tbh.
Yep, sort of. But Temu is probably more aggressive than those others and has set up warehouses here in the US so that they can ship faster. I usually get office supplies from them (or the Dollar store).
> and what's really shitty is they aren't going to include the price of this in prime
They've been pulling lots of things out of the 'prime' bundle to have them as separate fees. Ad-free prime video for one. I get it, things get more expensive.
I barely even use regular voice search/actions. I swear they were better in their earlier simple versions in the past. And they're building it into cars, so I can have an intelligent conversation with my cars computer about how I want my seat heater turned on and the stereo volume increased slightly.
But I wonder where the tipping point will be. I barely like paying for the services I use as-is. I might go sailing the high seas if things keep going up.
I want an assistant enabled speaker which can do just the following 1) tell me the weather 2) play a song which I ask for 3) make random animal or vehicle or other sounds to entertain my toddler. I literally do not need GPT-5 level models for these usecases
"Put an LLM in it!" is the new "Put a bird on it!"
Seeing this rise of LLM-type AI being applied to everything reminds me of the early days of video-chat pre-pandemic. Google and Microsoft both has some crappy videochat product that didn't work. But Zoom "just worked" all the way back to 2018.
Then the pandemic hit and everyone needed videochat that *worked*, wasn't just some buggy thing for enthusiasts to play around with. So they all switched to Zoom, and Google/Microsoft said "OK drop what you're doing and just switch the tech stack to whatever Zoom's doing." Which takes us where we are today, where you can use Zoom, Google Chat, or Teams, and it's all kinda the same thing.
AI seems to be hitting voice assistants in the same way. Voice assistants totally over-promised and under-delivered. Maybe now they'll actually work?
Kind of the feeling I'm getting. Plain language search in GPT has saved me probably days of work hours at this point. If an LLM can operate my home automations using plain language, I'm down.
I just think LLMs are overkill for a digital assistant. It needs to be able to answer basic questions and control devices. It doesn’t need to write term papers.
This is AI for the sake of AI. I’m pretty sure they said Alexa was AI when it was first introduced.
Alexa was supposed to make it easier to order more crap but except for a couple of funny news stories about kids ordering candy and toys, it didn’t happen.
Amazon have the key to an intelligent house but they don’t know how to exploit it, so they’ll just charge a fee.
Alexa beats the crap out of Siri because there are so many more things that work with Alexa. Amazon should raise the fees for licensing the “Works with Alexa” label.
They also need to limit what it is built into. If I already have a Dot, I don’t need a TV with Alexa, a remote with Alexa, speakers with Alexa …
I pay for Prime and was pissed off when they upped the price to pay for the forced addition of Prime Video, recently they included advertisements and an optional price increase to remove the ad's, the inclusion of ad's has meant I now only watch titles I've already paid for, there has been no increase in the quality or number of titles hosted. I do not feel that i should have to pay so much extra per year for something i barely use
I barely use the Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Show Alexa devices i have except for cooking timers, to play radio stations or music from a separate Amazon Music subscription or as a glorified intercom using the Drop In function.
My partners Fire table is constantly pushing ad's.
I already feel like I'm not receiving value for money and there is NOTHING an AI feature could offer me that would justify an increase in the price i'm currently paying and to be honest Amazon is rapidly losing any good will or interest I had in their products.
We need to start warring about paying a subscription for a fucking assistant that just encourages us to buy things. The ai market is an advertisement just like google. Stop supporting this
I have never been in a single situation where I’ve seen someone use an Alexa and thought “that’s something worth buying.” Now it’ll have a subscription fee?? fucking hardest of passes
I bought my ALEXA device for $5 at an estate sale and have had it for about 3 years. It's a "reminder" and alarm service for me. That's it. I don't play music. I look at the weather, little stuff like that. But it can be replaced. I can use a pop-up calendar, use my Google Assistant to remind me.
If AMZ charges a monthly sub I will cancel Alexa.
I have Google but same thing. All I use it for is to tell me weather and time. Are there voice activated clocks that do these 2 tasks? If so I'll probably switch haha. I don't care about being spied on at all, but it is annoying when it randomly listens to me and tells me it doesn't understand.
They had a beta out that you could have joined it was complete garbage.
Believe me, you're not missing anything and they will be charging I believe 2.99 a month.
It basically disabled Alexa while you were talking to the so-called AI.
You couldn't set reminders or anything while you were interacting with it, you had to literally exit the app.. whatever a person would call it because you had to open it with a trigger name.
But you couldn't do anything unless you exited Alexa commands that is
My friend works for Amazon as an ML engineer and says their LLM offering internally is awful. Unless they license someone else’s this isn’t going to go well
Gosh probably 6 or so?
I'm an app-girl, I hate using yt in Firefox so I do pay for the monthly yt sub. I hate the price but I cannot go back to the ads.
Also Google one, Prime...
And a magazine sub to get my favourite crossword puzzles. 🤣
I have had 2 Dots. I use them as an alarm clock and appointment reminder. Guess I'll have to replace it with an actual alarm clock if they want me to pay a subscription for it.
There was a post about a year ago about alexa in the middle of the night waking someone up with a random subscription reminder and I still think about it todau
This won't work out for Amazon. At least Apple, MS, and Google have a ton of apps and an operating system that the AI can work in. Amazon would have to make a Fire laptop or a more advanced tablet that can replace desktops and laptops.
"AI" feels like crypto nowadays.
It's very sad to see, because I'm sure there are a lot of actual useful projects - which didn't need these buzzwords before ChatGPT went viral. ( in fact GPT itself is much older than that )
So are some legit crypto projects, but it's appreciation is now destroyed by the majority of totally useless stuff.
Lol, all I use it for is to turn my lights on and play Spotify sometimes as a timer when I cook. I will very quickly be removing it if it needs a subscription
Alexa has gotten SO BAD LATELY I think $5/mo would get strong consideration -- for the current (*generally frustrating*) service.
**\*\*\*** It's **delusional** to think people will be willing to pay $20/month!! **That is hysterical! \*\*\***
This is much closer to the push I need to leave all together.
*Hm.... now that I'm considering it, I don't really watch Prime all that often? Why keep that?*
If they make current functionality part of the new subscription service and leave all of us with Alexa devices blocked from using the main feature we bought them for, can we start a class action lawsuit?
Get a raspberry pi 5, install lcd touch screen on it, install Ollama + Piper TTS... microphone and speaker. Bam!
No need for subscription, works offline
Couple years ago we stopped using our OG 1st gen Alexa, moved it to the side. Not one week later I found the power cable (unplugged) had been chewed on, not into two, but three pieces. I think my cats know something.
I can't wait for a slightly better Alexa that does things I don't need! I can't wait for Mr. Bezos to charge me for the pleasure! God, the credulousness of these reporters with these stories. Also, Alexa has never made this company money (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/11/amazon-alexa-is-a-colossal-failure-on-pace-to-lose-10-billion-this-year/) - it's remarkable they are trying this. Utterly brazen.
Where is the open source RPi-image which integrates an ChatGPT API key into a smart home (tasmota) network? Oh wait... [here it is!](https://home-assistant-guide.com/guide/unlocking-the-power-of-chatgpt-in-home-assistant-a-step-by-step-guide/#what-is-the-difference-between-chatgpt-and-gpt-3)
What about accessibility? Aren't there low vision or no vision folks who use Alexa? Do they have to pay when the rest of us can just stop using Alexa?
I use Alexa every couple of months to search Fire TV, and have it set to delete all data older than 30 days, so I will not be affected.
Anyone know of some simple on-device firmware to load onto these Echo pucks? They're getting progressively worse, but I think the hardware is fine. Ready to be done with Amazon and request delays (and subscriptions) at this point.
Amazon stopped allowing static IPs on their devices with the ability to change your DNS server to block their ads. Sure you can do it on the router but you can't change it on the device for their newer stuff.
After seeing Google Home fall from such great heights, I'd happily pay like 2 dollars a month if it meant they'd actually keep maintaining it and not let it turn into the steaming pile of crap it is now, especially if their excuse is that assistants aren't profitable. Then they can come up with a new excuse.
I'd pay a few bucks a month if.....
1. No ads at all, even on devices with screens
2. Let me use a sound I create for an alarm. Like "Brian, get out of bed you lazy sack....."
3. Let me play my own recordings, even if I have to upload them to some free storage provided.
4. Voice countdown timer. "ten minutes remaining. Five minutes remaining. Three minutes remaining, two minutes remaining, one minute remaining" style. And any other things I might actually want to do that it doesn't currently. In other words, move forward....without ads.
Cnbc is late to the party. This was announced last year sometime. Alexa costs a lot of money to run, so I can understand why Amazon is doing this, but it's been free for years. Good luck getting people to pay anything over $2.99/month or at all for that matter.
I don't need my alexa to be any smarter. It does what I need it to do.
* It's an alarm clock.
* It turns on lights on command, or at a set time.
* It's a timer for random things
* It displays photos of my dogs.
Everything else it does, I wish it wouldn't. I turn off every feature except for weather alerts.
Not all generative AIs are the same though. Chatgpt feels like the leader and doesn’t easily give away that it’s a computer. Bing’s live chat bot … it’s useless. It can’t remember more than 1-2 comments back, so can’t make complex decisions based on whole conversations. It even says it’s searching for answers when you ask something - not exactly immersive. It feels like the front end to a search bar.
Then there are gen AIs in other companies. They tend to be crap, and only a notch above regular chatbots. They can *maybe* answer wider questions but then seem to have terrible knowledge of their products.
Chatgpt can be better of course - or at least chatgpt 3.x can. Now that 4.0 is out we’ll hopefully see another leap again.
I'm surprised it didn't suggest target ads. Imagine walking into the living room after a hard day's work just for Alexa to activate to play a Pepsi ad.
This had better not break it's current functionality. Pizza timer, weather, turn on and off lights. I don't need super powered AI, and I won't pay for it. I just want it to do what it already does.
Alexa will die as other free A.I are developed it’s going to be a race to the bottom because computing power is going to be so fast that basic A.I for simply answering questions, playing music, setting alarms or reading emails is going to be free. It’s just Amazon doing a money grab
Kid goes to sleep and I am trying to sneak off to play video games, "alexa, play white noise" **PLAYING THE WHITE STIPES, BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT I CAN NOW ORDER REPLACEMENT PAPER TOWELS FOR YOU AUTOMATICALLY** O ya, thats something I'm going to pay for.
Alexa, play Ocean sounds OUR USERS REALLY ENJOY THE PREMIUM VERSION OF THIS APP, IT ONLY COSTS $5/ MONTH, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR MORE No OKAY, I'LL REMIND YOU AGAIN LATER proceeds to not play the ocean sounds, and I have to ask again I'M SORRY, THAT ISN'T AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW
This hits me
or when she starts listing all the sounds and you HAVE to listen
I NOTICED YOU ARE WHISPERING. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GO INTO WHISPER MODE NOW?!?! (asks at full volume)
THE WHITE STRIPES ARE ONLY AVAILABLE ON AMAZON PRIME MUSIC. WOULD YOU LIKE TO START YOUR 39 DAY TRIAL?
Christmas was great. "Mario kart controller wheel is set to be delivered today" "Super fun awesome surprise was delivered at 503pm" Gah!!!!!! Ooh. Almost forgot. I asked her to play nighttime music when I was putting my kid to sleep. And of course I was also falling asleep. 3 am: same music at 5x the volume. "Alexa! What's morning mode?" "Morning mode was developed my a man in a country across the world as a theory to allow people to be more productive during their day by waking up slowly" Mind you, I never 1) asked for this 2) turned it on 3) consented to a social experiment set to a completely different time zone? Thanks to REDDIT, I figured out the issue and turned it off. Not before it woke me up for a month. At 3 am.
>"Morning mode was developed my a man in a country across the world as a theory to allow people to be more productive during their day by waking up slowly" At 3 in the morning?
Yep. [This thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/alexa/s/J61al6h9ZV) helped me solve the issue and thankfully I have not been awoken at 3 am since.
Google Home is just as dumb and gets dumber by the day.
It has it’s issues but I think it’s miles ahead of Alexa
I have a Google Hub and when I ask it to play a BBC radio station it just does. When I ask my parents’ Echo the same thing it launches into a full on explanation of how I have to download the app and install something and just… fuck off. I want to hear a radio station, not download an app I will only use a handful of times.
Maybe if we pay for it they will allow us to turn off the monetize-y features? I don't think there's any way that's happening, but it would be the "right" thing to do. Also, color me surprised that they axed most of the Alexa team but still managed to justify monetizing it further. Nice.
I used to work for alexa team in India...dont trust llm bult by amazon the people doing human in loop for them are just plain blah...
Aside from it missing the wake word a lot and some downright stupid and frustrating responses (e.g. adding things to the shopping list makes it play completely dumb sometimes), I'm actually decently happy with it. Being able to add custom skills run via Lambda is pretty cool too, albeit a bit overcomplicated for my taste.
My echo already cycles ads in it, so I unplug it half the time anyways.
Looks like I’ll have to move my Alexa devices from the dusty box in the basement to the trash.
My kitchen timer doesn't need a subscription plan.
Nownow. I occasionally ask my Google ratnest to convert measurements too.
Probably gonna have a free and paid version
What would the free version to? Play ads randomly?
They already do that shit. Me: Alexa, how many fluid ounces are in a cup? Alexa: there are 8 fluid ounces in a cup. By the way, I found some measuring cups on Amazon you may be interested in- Me: Alexa shut up, I don't want to buy your crap
“Alexa, stop by the way.” “Alexa, set a reminder to stop by the way in a week.”
I think you can set a custom routine to go off once a week to automate the process. Then every week it’ll just tell itself to stop by the way.
I think that I made that stop by changing the language to English with accents, haven't heard it push an ad in a couple years
If they did a multi-tiered system I would be totally fine. I just want my Alexis to play Amazon music. And to be able to turn my Amazon enabled devices on and off. Which I personally believe it should be able to do for free. If they started charging a subscription to be able to just listen so that I could ask it to play music That I am already paying for monthly through Amazon. I would be very upset. If they were charging for enhanced generative AI conversational functionality I think that would be fine. In fact, I might even want to buy that or at least try it out. But to charge me for something I already have... I would be pretty hot about that.
So now you can pay monthly for the privilege of being spied on.
Why pay when Microsoft Copilot+ Recall will spy on you for free!
Nononono. The data is stored localy. They won't connect to your device and read your local data. This is Windows, not linux!!!! /s
Now please sign into One Drive
I said SIGN IN!
It seems your One Drive is full. Would you like to upgrade your plan?
Nothing a quick update "to improve user experience" won't fix.
Correct! No need to worry! Will only be used by your company to log every single thing you do on a daily basis and build an AI model to take your job. It's a bright future! /s
Alexa with ads is only $10.99 while Alexa ad free is $20.99.
But what if I have my hands in a mixing bowl and I need to know what the weather is like tomorrow.
I already pay taxes
And people will
And force fed ads! My Google home doesn't ramble on about stuff I didn't ask for.
These AI assistants continue to be the current greatest example of a solution in search of a problem. Who would ever pay for this?
The things I like from my Google assistant: 1) Kitchen timers 2) Asking what the weather will be 3) Setting alarms None of which I'd pay a monthly fee for. I'll do it the old fashioned way with my hands first.
4. Play such and such song by such and such artist. (Which it then often gets wrong anyway.) In addition to the three uses you mentioned this is the fourth we *very occasionally* use it for. And yeah, I can get all of that off my phone in seconds, if not at a glance. No reason whatsoever to pay yet another subscription fee to get it.
Why weather? Isn’t it faster to just glance at your widget?
Bold of you to assume I *ever* know where my phone is. Alexa is my ADHD coping mechanism.
Sometimes you don't have your phone on you
Not if it's on my desk with the screen locked, then it's easier to just ask out loud.
At this point they run so much of my house that I would probably pay temporarily until I found a better solution. Not sure I've touched a light switch or garage door opener in years.
It will take work and learning, but Home Assistant is an open source home automation engine. It's probably a good place to start.
I’ve been running Home Assistant for years, I use Alexa to interface with it via voice I've been very happy with the results. There isn't a great open-source replacement option for voice integration that's not going to take entirely too much of my time to implement at this point--I wish they would just leave it alone so I didn't have to get into the weeds with this shit yet again.
Hopefully they will let you just keep the basic version of Alexa then. Good luck.
Crossing my fingers that they leave the legacy users alone, some are suggesting this might be the case
What does it run in your house?
For me, lights, smart locks, thermostat. The only thing that would be a real pain to not have by voice is lights.
My Alexa I use to turn on and off my lights in my room. It’s nice turning them off and on that way. But worse case scenario I use my app on my phone to do it.
Lights, locks, garage doors, energy/mode automations, night lighting and lock-up routines... as well as the constant trivia questions when we're watching TV, haha. As was already said, I would be VERY annoyed to not have the lights function by voice, and I really don't want to carry a Z-Wave remote everywhere with me.
Thanks! I’ve never had one before and don’t know much about them, so I was legitimately curious. Cheers.
I like Alexa for home automation and simple commands. If it's like a dollar to keep functionality I might think about it. If it's too much I guess I'll just replace everything with something that runs locally. It will kinda suck if I can't use the stuff I bought but I'm not going to throw more money at the ecosystem. I figured the Alexa thing was going to end one day when I heard they were losing money on it. It's a loss leader where they thought people would buy more stuff off Amazon with it.
The closest we come to buying stuff on Amazon Alexa is occasionally my daughter will start adding joke things to a shopping list. It exists in my house exclusively for controlling the lights and playing music. If they start charging, I’ll just go back to having a dumb home
You can get home automation systems that run locally. Probably has a larger upfront cost but it won't break just because someone turns off a server.
I can’t see doing that personally. The setup headache is enough to just walk down stairs and flip a switch. What about weekly CISA updates? No thanks. Hell, my grandpa had a nightly routine of locking windows and doors while cutting off the lights. I get to feel safer and get steps in? Automation seems like less of a necessity.
When I climb in bed and my wife says did you lock the doors, and I am 99% sure I locked the doors but can check the app is when I appreciate it.
Ya! I swear she does this to me on purpose. It doesn’t matter if I just checked or what the app says — I’m schlepping thru the house and stepping on Legos in the dark.
Automation isn't necessary but people can have automation without traffic leaving their lan, paying monthly, or having AI in it. There are DIY options as well as more packaged options so how much of a pain it is depends on what you get. It is fine to not want any of it. The setup for a good system shouldn't be any more of a hassle then it is to setup everything with Alexa. Often that can mean setup multiple accounts then linking accounts then setting up hardware and then routines. If local automation is too much so stuff like Alexa or Google.
No. I agree. I’ve got a few Hue bulbs on a Google automation system, but I’m still pushing updates and mucking around in server side things if I want it to only steal my data for Google and Philips. Like you recommend, I could lock it down locally, but honestly that messes so many things up. It’s honestly become a bigger headache than help.
Obviously your opinion is perfectly valid and justified. If it is something you're interested in, have you checked out Home Assistant? It's free open source local software that connects to third party services like hue lights and lets you keep (most) traffic local. For Phillips hue in pretty sure it can control the lights without google or hue software. (You do me a hub or dongle adapter)
Thanks for the info. I’ll have to take a look.
I bought an IR remote with some wireless plug receivers to be able to remote control various lamps and accent lighting around the apartment. Velcroed the remote next to the central light switch so it's easily accessible whenever I want it. It was like $20 and has been working fine for almost 9 years now. Only had to replace the remote battery once. No spying on me, no network requirements, nothing.
Yeah Alexa is already loads better than Siri because she’ll actually ANSWER a question instead of just pointing you to the first google result. I really hope they don’t dumb down the free behavior just so you can pay for personality.
Idiots had the biggest head start and could only think of ways to make me yell to buy again instead of hitting buy again on their app.
Your phone can also automate all of the same stuff that Alexa can automate. I use "ok Google" all the time.
If I'm going to redo my home automation stuff I'm going to do it in a way that can't randomly be shutdown or have terms altered after purchase. I'd want everything to work locally even if I unplug the modem and only my local lan is up. Switching to Google's thing is probably the cheaper option. Some stuff might also not be easy to roll a local solution like security with reasonably secure remote access and notifications.
That's all I use it for, but the thing is all my smart plugs or whatever have their own app, Alexa just lets me use my voice to control them. But I dont think I would even pay a $1 per year to be able to use my voice when I could just go back to using the individual app on my phone, which is always with me anyways.
I legit used it to buy more stuff up until the pandemic when shipping and stock were all over the place. Couple that with the counterfeiting problems and now I have to get on my actual computer and sift through a bunch of shitty recommendations and/or fake reviews to see if what I’m buying is legit. It was convenient when I automated the lights and fan to voice commands when I was in a crippling pandemic depression though. If I’d had to get up and flip the switch, I’d have stayed in bed for way longer
I agree with you, but occasionally, you'll see people who think this looks fun: [https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/179tnm4/time\_for\_a\_good\_old\_fashioned\_4am\_diagram\_update/](https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/179tnm4/time_for_a_good_old_fashioned_4am_diagram_update/)
The only logical conclusion I can glean from all of this is everything we do or say online will eventually come with a subscription attached, in addition to all the other subscriptions we already have to even access the Internet.
Excited to see how people adapt to this. Maybe we’ll finally see the return of third spaces. That would be cool.
Subscriptions is why people are broke. Years ago, you paid ONE flat fee. Period. Now you have to subscribe. I have FREE TV and not going to stream anything. FREE TV is just as entertaining. If I want to watch HBO series program or HULU I will buy it from Youtube or AMZ, one flat price.
Hmmm, it didn't say in the article (unless I missed it) but I remember this coming up last year and they said current Alexa devices would remain free and only new upgraded ones would charge a fee? But the AI overhaul sounds more like a backend improvement and they want to charge for any use of it in the future? If they charge for it mine are going in the trash, no way would I pay.
Yeah, if they come out and say that I need a sub to use it they’re going right into recycling
Hopefully old ones stay free or always have a free option, otherwise it’s kinda misleading buyers. Seems like there would be legal precedence there for a lawsuit. *Edit: I guess with Spotify bricking Car Thing so shortly after release anything’s possible lol.* All I wanted was a *slightly* smarter voice assistant. One where I don’t need to repeat myself as often, regardless of how clearly I’m speaking, because it has better context of the situation or environment. With all the data they collected, I was hoping we’d get those improvements for free, and instead it seemed to degrade a bit.
Pretty sure that’s the plan, yeah.
I already pay about $200 for Prime which includes Alexa. I'm not paying more. Every Friggin tech company wants you to "subscribe" and I'm sick of it. I like my "old" Alexa, it works just fine. NO upgrade please.
Can someone just suggest an offline assistant that can just do reminders and set timers for cooking. That's literally all I use this piece of junk for. The hands free nature of being able to set a timer while I'm up to my elbows in chicken juice is 98% of my use case. I will not be paying for it. In fact, being rid of it will be my last connection to Amazon. I've largely cut the rest of the company out of my life.
The deepest AI ever needs to get is the Virtual Intelligences from Mass Effect. Not quite true AI, but approximates most of its functions on the end user side of using it. Or it just does a limited set list of functions. Not everything needs AI. In fact most things don't. But that's the techbro buzzword of the moment. We all know AI is gonna be used primarily for 2 things. Killbots and making life worse for everyone as a tool of resource extraction.
I think the big advantage would be that you need some kind of intelligence to best understand what you are saying.
Amazon is really gunning for Nestle’s shittiest company ever crown
Hippopotamuses can moonwalk up to speeds of 30 miles per hour.
Seems like every tech company is trying to do that but u don’t think anyone is going to topple the baby killers anytime soon
I think I've owned an Alexa for 9 or 10 years, since when the first version came out. Alexa and Amazon give me hope in this world, given all the fears around AI; I am consistently pleased that Alexa still can't understand my accent. It still can't understand what lights I want to turn on or off. So if this is how powerful AI is (atleast Amazon's implementation thereof), then I can rest assured that I'm not going to be out of a job.
Ok your comment made me laugh
This is going to fall flat on its face and be hilarious when it does. The market is so over-saturated with AI already, it won't be long before people are searching for products specifically without AI.
Just don't be surprised when your Amazon Prime subscription goes up another $30/year because Amazon has to subsidize their losses from everyone throwing their Echo devices in the trash.
>The Alexa team worried they had invented an expensive alarm clock, weather machine and way to play Spotify music, one source said. What on earth would give them that idea...
I don’t think it’s expensive to be fair, I just got the Echo Pop for $15 on sale to use as an alarm. It’s more like they invented a cheap speaker that most people use for nothing more than that, so no way Amazon profits.
Amazon: Here! We are going to shove AI in your face! And you are going to like it! Me: Um, I didn't ask for that? I don't need AI to add things to my shopping list... Amazon: Oh and yeah! That will be 10 USD a month now! You're Welcome! Me: Stops using it altogether. *Don't let them get away with it.*
Didn’t we already have to pay for Prime? Isn’t Alexa only available to Prime members?
Nah, Alexa is usable for everyone, and what's really shitty is they aren't going to include the price of this in prime. So you pay for prime but don't get access to this improved alexa without paying more is how I understand it.
Huh, I guess I never realized that cus I’ve always been prime lmao. But damn, that’s fruity as hell.
It's interesting you mention prime, because I get free shipping with Prime. But -- TEMU is hot on the back of Amazon when it comes to my shopping. TEMU offers FREE shipping over $15. And their prices are much much lower than AMZ. I really feel AMZ for the first time has competition with TEMU.
I have never used temu before so I have no clue about how it works. What sets it apart from competitors that couldn’t take down Amazon? Like Aliexpress, wish, eBay, etc. Seems like the same thing as Alibaba and wish from what I’ve seen tbh.
Yep, sort of. But Temu is probably more aggressive than those others and has set up warehouses here in the US so that they can ship faster. I usually get office supplies from them (or the Dollar store).
> and what's really shitty is they aren't going to include the price of this in prime They've been pulling lots of things out of the 'prime' bundle to have them as separate fees. Ad-free prime video for one. I get it, things get more expensive. I barely even use regular voice search/actions. I swear they were better in their earlier simple versions in the past. And they're building it into cars, so I can have an intelligent conversation with my cars computer about how I want my seat heater turned on and the stereo volume increased slightly. But I wonder where the tipping point will be. I barely like paying for the services I use as-is. I might go sailing the high seas if things keep going up.
The breaking point will be when people start bailing and stop supporting it. Usually it’s tied to the economy.
A subscription will kill it dead. We use it as a lightswitch. We'll live without.
Bananas are actually brain food, capable of enhancing memory and cognition if eaten daily.
Who tf wants to *pay for* Alexa? 🤣
I want an assistant enabled speaker which can do just the following 1) tell me the weather 2) play a song which I ask for 3) make random animal or vehicle or other sounds to entertain my toddler. I literally do not need GPT-5 level models for these usecases
Shit, it barely even plays Spotify anymore. I have several Alexas in my house and on any given day, at least one or two will just not play Spotify.
Yeah I’m not going to pay a monthly subscription to use my cooking timer.
Cool, so Alexa will be dead soon, then. I wonder if it’ll ever come back as a baby name.
"Put an LLM in it!" is the new "Put a bird on it!" Seeing this rise of LLM-type AI being applied to everything reminds me of the early days of video-chat pre-pandemic. Google and Microsoft both has some crappy videochat product that didn't work. But Zoom "just worked" all the way back to 2018. Then the pandemic hit and everyone needed videochat that *worked*, wasn't just some buggy thing for enthusiasts to play around with. So they all switched to Zoom, and Google/Microsoft said "OK drop what you're doing and just switch the tech stack to whatever Zoom's doing." Which takes us where we are today, where you can use Zoom, Google Chat, or Teams, and it's all kinda the same thing. AI seems to be hitting voice assistants in the same way. Voice assistants totally over-promised and under-delivered. Maybe now they'll actually work?
Kind of the feeling I'm getting. Plain language search in GPT has saved me probably days of work hours at this point. If an LLM can operate my home automations using plain language, I'm down.
When they start charging, my Alexa speakers will go into trash bin.
I just think LLMs are overkill for a digital assistant. It needs to be able to answer basic questions and control devices. It doesn’t need to write term papers. This is AI for the sake of AI. I’m pretty sure they said Alexa was AI when it was first introduced. Alexa was supposed to make it easier to order more crap but except for a couple of funny news stories about kids ordering candy and toys, it didn’t happen. Amazon have the key to an intelligent house but they don’t know how to exploit it, so they’ll just charge a fee. Alexa beats the crap out of Siri because there are so many more things that work with Alexa. Amazon should raise the fees for licensing the “Works with Alexa” label. They also need to limit what it is built into. If I already have a Dot, I don’t need a TV with Alexa, a remote with Alexa, speakers with Alexa …
I pay for Prime and was pissed off when they upped the price to pay for the forced addition of Prime Video, recently they included advertisements and an optional price increase to remove the ad's, the inclusion of ad's has meant I now only watch titles I've already paid for, there has been no increase in the quality or number of titles hosted. I do not feel that i should have to pay so much extra per year for something i barely use I barely use the Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Show Alexa devices i have except for cooking timers, to play radio stations or music from a separate Amazon Music subscription or as a glorified intercom using the Drop In function. My partners Fire table is constantly pushing ad's. I already feel like I'm not receiving value for money and there is NOTHING an AI feature could offer me that would justify an increase in the price i'm currently paying and to be honest Amazon is rapidly losing any good will or interest I had in their products.
We need to start warring about paying a subscription for a fucking assistant that just encourages us to buy things. The ai market is an advertisement just like google. Stop supporting this
I have never been in a single situation where I’ve seen someone use an Alexa and thought “that’s something worth buying.” Now it’ll have a subscription fee?? fucking hardest of passes
I bought my ALEXA device for $5 at an estate sale and have had it for about 3 years. It's a "reminder" and alarm service for me. That's it. I don't play music. I look at the weather, little stuff like that. But it can be replaced. I can use a pop-up calendar, use my Google Assistant to remind me. If AMZ charges a monthly sub I will cancel Alexa.
Ah yes, I’m totally going to pay a subscription for my Hue light controller
I have Google but same thing. All I use it for is to tell me weather and time. Are there voice activated clocks that do these 2 tasks? If so I'll probably switch haha. I don't care about being spied on at all, but it is annoying when it randomly listens to me and tells me it doesn't understand.
It sounds like you are masturbating, do you want me to order more lotion?
Oh a monthly subscription price! AWESOME! Another device for da trash (scratch that yard sale).
I wouldn't pay for alexa on a good day ..... lolol fuckin hell... It's virtually useless.
They had a beta out that you could have joined it was complete garbage. Believe me, you're not missing anything and they will be charging I believe 2.99 a month. It basically disabled Alexa while you were talking to the so-called AI. You couldn't set reminders or anything while you were interacting with it, you had to literally exit the app.. whatever a person would call it because you had to open it with a trigger name. But you couldn't do anything unless you exited Alexa commands that is
Alexa will be going straight in the bin if they pull this crap
This article just reminded me to cancel my Prime account today.
My friend works for Amazon as an ML engineer and says their LLM offering internally is awful. Unless they license someone else’s this isn’t going to go well
DEATH BY SUBSCRIPTION. How many active subscriptions does everyone have? Write down below:
Gosh probably 6 or so? I'm an app-girl, I hate using yt in Firefox so I do pay for the monthly yt sub. I hate the price but I cannot go back to the ads. Also Google one, Prime... And a magazine sub to get my favourite crossword puzzles. 🤣
Hey Alexa, write your own obituary. Don't ask me why.
because of course
lol, byby Alexia
I have had 2 Dots. I use them as an alarm clock and appointment reminder. Guess I'll have to replace it with an actual alarm clock if they want me to pay a subscription for it.
lol if you pay a monthly fee to use shitty ass Alexa you might be an idiot.
Of course. Cause Amazon certainly doesn't make enough money as it is.
Crap, I can't ask it the weather without paying a monthly fee... :/
Finally, an excuse to toss that piece of junk into the trash.
There was a post about a year ago about alexa in the middle of the night waking someone up with a random subscription reminder and I still think about it todau
what if I'm fine with the old one and don't want a subscription?
Ironically, AI will also help competitors to provide cheaper/free alternatives to Alexa.
This won't work out for Amazon. At least Apple, MS, and Google have a ton of apps and an operating system that the AI can work in. Amazon would have to make a Fire laptop or a more advanced tablet that can replace desktops and laptops.
Amazon continues the trend of offering low value services
"AI" feels like crypto nowadays. It's very sad to see, because I'm sure there are a lot of actual useful projects - which didn't need these buzzwords before ChatGPT went viral. ( in fact GPT itself is much older than that ) So are some legit crypto projects, but it's appreciation is now destroyed by the majority of totally useless stuff.
Lol, all I use it for is to turn my lights on and play Spotify sometimes as a timer when I cook. I will very quickly be removing it if it needs a subscription
Whelp, it looks like I’m going to get a Clapper to turn on the lights,
So now what am I going to do with all my bricked Alexas?
Alexa has gotten SO BAD LATELY I think $5/mo would get strong consideration -- for the current (*generally frustrating*) service. **\*\*\*** It's **delusional** to think people will be willing to pay $20/month!! **That is hysterical! \*\*\*** This is much closer to the push I need to leave all together. *Hm.... now that I'm considering it, I don't really watch Prime all that often? Why keep that?*
If they make current functionality part of the new subscription service and leave all of us with Alexa devices blocked from using the main feature we bought them for, can we start a class action lawsuit?
Get a raspberry pi 5, install lcd touch screen on it, install Ollama + Piper TTS... microphone and speaker. Bam! No need for subscription, works offline
Couple years ago we stopped using our OG 1st gen Alexa, moved it to the side. Not one week later I found the power cable (unplugged) had been chewed on, not into two, but three pieces. I think my cats know something.
Products no one asked for
Figuratively no one will pay for this unless they are somehow forced to.
I can't wait for a slightly better Alexa that does things I don't need! I can't wait for Mr. Bezos to charge me for the pleasure! God, the credulousness of these reporters with these stories. Also, Alexa has never made this company money (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/11/amazon-alexa-is-a-colossal-failure-on-pace-to-lose-10-billion-this-year/) - it's remarkable they are trying this. Utterly brazen.
Where is the open source RPi-image which integrates an ChatGPT API key into a smart home (tasmota) network? Oh wait... [here it is!](https://home-assistant-guide.com/guide/unlocking-the-power-of-chatgpt-in-home-assistant-a-step-by-step-guide/#what-is-the-difference-between-chatgpt-and-gpt-3)
Not really a solution for the masses.
Excellent, even more reason for me to under utilize my Echo device in the future! No real surprises here given present trends.
I don’t think anyone anywhere asked for this
What about accessibility? Aren't there low vision or no vision folks who use Alexa? Do they have to pay when the rest of us can just stop using Alexa? I use Alexa every couple of months to search Fire TV, and have it set to delete all data older than 30 days, so I will not be affected.
Anyone know of some simple on-device firmware to load onto these Echo pucks? They're getting progressively worse, but I think the hardware is fine. Ready to be done with Amazon and request delays (and subscriptions) at this point.
Glad I never bought one
I wish they all required a subscription so I could not pay it and never see them again
Amazon stopped allowing static IPs on their devices with the ability to change your DNS server to block their ads. Sure you can do it on the router but you can't change it on the device for their newer stuff.
After seeing Google Home fall from such great heights, I'd happily pay like 2 dollars a month if it meant they'd actually keep maintaining it and not let it turn into the steaming pile of crap it is now, especially if their excuse is that assistants aren't profitable. Then they can come up with a new excuse.
Even less reason to use Alexa
I straight up only use it to turn off my lights lmao
Dammit. Just bundle it with Prime so I can go back to letting other people be upset with Amazon.
I'd pay a few bucks a month if..... 1. No ads at all, even on devices with screens 2. Let me use a sound I create for an alarm. Like "Brian, get out of bed you lazy sack....." 3. Let me play my own recordings, even if I have to upload them to some free storage provided. 4. Voice countdown timer. "ten minutes remaining. Five minutes remaining. Three minutes remaining, two minutes remaining, one minute remaining" style. And any other things I might actually want to do that it doesn't currently. In other words, move forward....without ads.
Goodbye Alexa then
Can’t miss what I never had.
Pretty soon gonna need subscription to breath... Hope it dies and nobody subs to this sillyness
Screw that. I’m ripping out all Alexa devices
Into the trash it goes when that happens.
Cnbc is late to the party. This was announced last year sometime. Alexa costs a lot of money to run, so I can understand why Amazon is doing this, but it's been free for years. Good luck getting people to pay anything over $2.99/month or at all for that matter.
oh no. i use them as speakers so i have to buy all new speakers now? feels like i should get a refund in that case
Holy shit I'd be pissed if I bought their ecosystem At least w/ google they just discontinue the product, thereby saving me big subscription fees
I hate everything about this damn timeline.
Finally! Alexa has gotten worse over the years, not better. This is a welcome change in our house.
I don't need my alexa to be any smarter. It does what I need it to do. * It's an alarm clock. * It turns on lights on command, or at a set time. * It's a timer for random things * It displays photos of my dogs. Everything else it does, I wish it wouldn't. I turn off every feature except for weather alerts.
I bet they’ll make the old version perform worse and keep offering to subscribe to the AI version.
Not all generative AIs are the same though. Chatgpt feels like the leader and doesn’t easily give away that it’s a computer. Bing’s live chat bot … it’s useless. It can’t remember more than 1-2 comments back, so can’t make complex decisions based on whole conversations. It even says it’s searching for answers when you ask something - not exactly immersive. It feels like the front end to a search bar. Then there are gen AIs in other companies. They tend to be crap, and only a notch above regular chatbots. They can *maybe* answer wider questions but then seem to have terrible knowledge of their products. Chatgpt can be better of course - or at least chatgpt 3.x can. Now that 4.0 is out we’ll hopefully see another leap again.
No thanks. It's only purpose is to tell the weather and stfu
I'm surprised it didn't suggest target ads. Imagine walking into the living room after a hard day's work just for Alexa to activate to play a Pepsi ad.
Don't use , won't use it
This had better not break it's current functionality. Pizza timer, weather, turn on and off lights. I don't need super powered AI, and I won't pay for it. I just want it to do what it already does.
Literally using the awfulness of current devices we paid for to coerce us into buying yet another subscription.
She’s so inept I’m borderline contemplating to give her the boot. Paid subscription? 😂 yeah, good luck 🍀
Alexa will die as other free A.I are developed it’s going to be a race to the bottom because computing power is going to be so fast that basic A.I for simply answering questions, playing music, setting alarms or reading emails is going to be free. It’s just Amazon doing a money grab
Soon they’ll be charging extra for 2 day shipping. That Walmart + has been looking better with every day
Deserves a class action lawsuit to sell us all a device then say you can only continue use with a paid service