Alexa Got an A.I. Brain Transplant. How Smart Is It Now?

nytimes.com

3 points·tysone··3 comments

It can’t possibly be any more useful than a generic chat bot on a phone. How could it be? I don’t get what the reason is for this product even existing. I read another article that said Amazon has thousands of employees and a large team of executives working on Alexa. That seems like a complete waste. Why aren’t they working on bigger problems like energy or education or healthcare?

> It can’t possibly be any more useful than a generic chat bot on a phone. How could it be?

It is the difference between dial-up internet and always-on internet. Can always-on internet do anything dial-up internet couldn't? No... it is the same internet... but being always on makes a big difference.

Same with Alexa. It is always on. No need to pull the phone out of your pocket, find the ChatGPT app, start it, switch it to voice mode, ask the question, then put the phone away and so on. Instead just ask the question and you get the answer. Just like always-on internet, always-on AI makes a big difference.

apparently its used as a jukebox, a kitchen timer, and news feed.

uses to turn light on and off. modify shopping list, audio streaming, are minor traffic.

https://www.statista.com/chart/6080/amazon-echo-usage/

https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/6080.jpeg [JPEG]

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