“AI” is known to most individuals on the Web as the
“computer” chess player in a chess game that knows all your moves and how to
respond to them. In most cases, AI players online are hard to beat. I play
against the AI team in FIFA 14 quite often, and find that, with the exception
of spontaneous moments where I make last-minute decisions that can’t be
predicted as easily), the AI does a pretty stellar job of beating me in the
soccer games.
While the AI is mostly known for its fierce competitiveness
in games, Amazon is bringing AI to Bluetooth speakers with its announcement of
the Amazon Echo yesterday.
The Amazon Echo is a Bluetooth speaker that comes with voice
command and activation so that you can’t get the answers you need when you need
them. “Alexa,” the voice assistant’s name, is a direct counterpart to Siri and
Google Now, although Echo seems to be a bit more impressive than even Apple’s
Siri. In the past, I have always applauded Siri over Google Now because of her
personality. Well, Siri may have her hands full with Amazon’s answer to voice
command personalities with Alexa.
Alexa is excellent at trivia, from spelling
“supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (I think I spelled this right, haha) to
telling the mass of the earth, how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, and so
on. Alexa can set alarms, making the AI Bluetooth speaker incredibly helpful
for chefs and home cooks, and, in connection with Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet
series, proves useful in adding reminders to user calendars (which means you’ll
never miss your dentist appointment again). Echo is also internet-connected,
gathering content from the cloud when you ask Alexa questions and adding your
calendar reminders by way of the cloud also.
Amazon Echo plugs into your wall, and can be set anywhere in
the room you’d like. You need not worry about shouting or speaking loudly,
since Alexa is always on (which is what we’ve come to expect from voice command
assistants) and can hear you around the room. There’s a little ring at the top
of the speaker that lights up when Alexa responds to your question or command.
Amazon’s also got a neat video below showing how the family
experience is impacted by the Amazon Echo and Alexa’s voice service. When asked
about Siri, Apple’s voice command, Alexa responded, “Siri’s a great app – but I’m
different.”
Alexa’s reach into mobile
I’m excited to see Amazon’s Alexa battle like personalities
Cortana, Siri, and Google Now (though Google’s offering is the least “personal”
of them all; I’d really like Google to change Google Now’s name to something
other than the company’s name). With the push, however, I want to see Amazon
bring Alexa into the entire range of its mobile devices, particularly its
Kindle Fire HDX and others. Alexa would aid customers who need to use the
company’s “MayDay” service when troubleshooting a problem or asking a question
about a product or service. Alexa will likely serve in a capacity where she
would pull up Amazon Video movies when prompted, shop for items when asked, and
so on. As you can see in the video below, Alexa can already play music lists
when asked to do so; it’s only a short reach from this to “Alexa, post a new
Facebook status for me.”
One feature that I’ve yet to see with manufacturers of
mobile devices (smartphone giants Google, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon, among
others) is voice-activated logins. Google has been experimenting with fingerprint
authentication in Android M, and Samsung and Apple have utilized fingerprint-scanning
tech in their mobile devices, but it would be nice to have a “voice detection”
login feature whereby one’s voice could log an individual in to a device. I
realize that this may catch some users off-guard, seeing that privacy and
security are highly valued in today’s world, but I want you, the reader, to
also understand that Alexa via Amazon Echo is likely gathering information
about your voice pitch and sound when you ask questions.
Apple’s Siri has been highly criticized when it became
publicized that Apple was sending voice recordings of users to data centers in
the US. And Samsung’s come under harsh criticism because of its voice-activated
Smart TVs that allow you to perform TV functions with your voice. All of these
have been said to border on privacy and security violations, but those who
assume this to be true do not understand the technology. The truth of the
matter is that the voice command in-built into mobile devices cannot answer a
question if there’s no way to “receive your question” and process it. In other
words, voice records and data storage is necessary for utilizing voice command
experiences.
At the same time, however, Apple has found a way to ensure
user privacy when possible. The fact that its Touch ID does not store
fingerprint data on the device is such an example. Perhaps Apple can extend
this setup to voice data in the future.
Amazon has decided to extend Alexa to third-party
applications not made by Amazon, which will allow Amazon developers to make the
most of the new voice assistant. I can already see Alexa making her way to the
Fire Phone, which will go a long way toward increasing the Fire Phone’s mass
market adoption. Of course, Google Play Store access would, too, but Amazon’s
insistence on a forked Android experience with only Amazon apps has been a way
to spare the privacy concerns of Amazon users who don’t envy the user data
access of the search engine giant and how Mountain View insists of mobile ads
tailored to user data and interests.
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