Amazon’s Alexa Vs. Google Assistant. Head-to-head. Image credit: Jay McGregor
Amazon’s strategy to make Alexa available absolutely everywhere on every device ever created will give it the advantage it needs in the upcoming AI wars.
The news that Amazon is making its AI technology available in the UK to third party developers (it’s been available to US devs since 2015) is another nail in the coffin for rivals.
Amazon has already deeply embedded its AI into the UK’s national psyche with round-the-clock adverts over the Christmas period. And it worked, sales look good and even my non-techy older family members are riveted by the assistant. Now, it’s delving further into our lives by latching on to other devices we use regularly like a virtual barnacle.
It is, frankly, a brilliant strategy. Launching Alexa Voice Services in the UK means endless opportunities to have a fully fledged personal assistant in any device with a speaker, microphone and internet connection.
It adds another dimension smart home products, or any other non-smart device. You car, for example, would hugely benefit from voice commands to play music, take notes or control smart devices back at home. Add to that your fridge, lights, cooker, kettle, TV and whatever else that can be ‘Alexa’d’.
From December 31st 2016, the government can legally hack your iPhone, and Alexa…
This is the first step on the road to having a fully AI controlled home. Futurists – and fantasists – have long dreamed about a Jarvis style assistant that controls every aspect of your home, and, by extension, life. It’s the stuff of practically every cyber-punk dystopian concept ever imagined.
But, in reality, when you buy most products from separate companies, having one harmonious ‘controller’ isn’t that simple. Amazon clearly wants to sidestep that problem by distributing its technology (that other companies don’t have the resources to develop) to other device it doesn’t manufacturer itself. For the third party companies that incorporate Alexa into their devices, their products a powerful, additional feature that’s already extremely popular. Smart.
Next page: Alexa’s privacy problems
Privacy problems
After the Vizio disaster, and years of being a technology journalist, I was – and remain – hugely sceptical about having an always-listening device in my home. Amazon, or Google for that matter, haven’t allayed my privacy fears by simply adding a microphone blocking button to Alexa.
Those fears are multiplied with every smart device in my home that adopts Alexa as its voice interface. Increasing the amount of devices that use Alexa just means increasing your odds of being spied on, unethically, by an unscrupulous company like Vizio. No thanks.
One way rivals can win back some ground from Amazon would be to address these privacy concerns head-on. Apple, to be fair, is already ahead here, with Siri data staying local to the user’s device. Hopefully that remains the case if Apple launches a standalone Siri device. As the privacy becomes a bigger concern for the public (although, the privacy vs civil liberties debate seems to yo yo depending on recent events), then a service with significant privacy provisions built-in will have a ready-made, eager audience.
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Jay McGregor is the editor-in-chief of the YouTube channel, Point. He also reports for The Guardian, TechRadar, BBC Radio and others. Follow on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/PointReport
