Podcast: Why Amazon wants you to talk to Alexa less

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Smart home technology has been with us for nearly a decade now. Devices such as Alexa are a part of our everyday lives. So, where does the technology go next?

In the early days of Alexa, developers were focussed on 13 basic tasks, such as its ability to play music. In seven subsequent years, this has grown to 130,000 different skills. Alexa now has the ability to effectively run your home for you.

The challenge for Amazon is where to take the technology next. “We believe that the future of consumer technology is ambient intelligence, which uses AI to weave together devices and intelligence services in a way that offers way more value than just the hardware on its own,” said Tom Taylor, SVP for Alexa at Amazon. “This isn’t just more connected devices. It’s about adding intelligence throughout the system to make the devices better.”

As Tom explained, in practice this means talking to Alexa less as the technology becomes more predictive and anticipatory. The more predictive the technology becomes, the more time consumers will have to disconnect from their devices. The next generation of Alexa will be sensitive to, and predictive of behaviour through visual and auditory cues.

Tom gave an example that will no doubt appeal to many parents: “So let’s say… you want to make sure your kids do your chores. You could train Alexa to detect the sound of XBox turning on and have it automatically show your kids to do list on the echo show.”

“Ultimately, this means that you’re reaching for your phone a little bit less, you’re spending less time looking at screens… that means you’re spending more time looking up at the world and the people in it and not down at your hands,” said Tom.

Rather than being told what to do, soon Alexa will be able to learn for itself based on its owner’s behaviour. This marks a big shift from the current situation, where Alexa needs to be gradually programmed.

“With Self Service AI customers can choose a trigger for Alexa taking an action. But an equally important shift is Alexa figuring out that trigger for itself. This is AI that is more self-directed,” said Tom.

“For starters, that means that AI is able to more actively learn from customers’ feedback signals. If someone repeats a request – rephrases it – Alexa can now detect an error in the interpretation and correct future requests.”

Tom Taylor, SVP of Alexa at Amazon, was speaking on Centre Stage at Web Summit 2021.

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