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Alexa+

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Re: Alexa+

#291

Post by harmmonica »

65 wrote: post #181
harmmonica wrote: post #28

If an LLM-based voice assistant/hardware combination works as well as ChatGPT-for-voice works today, I don't think it's a stretch to say that nearly everyone in the coming years will use/have one (the software of course will be portable to whatever device you're using--house, phone, car, etc. But the hardware portion I do believe will be critical because most of the time using it will be at home in a room and in that…

You know, people said the same thing the first time voice assistants came out. They said the same thing when VR came out. Even when 3D printers came out for God's sake. "Everyone will have one!" It's a mistake to think every person is the same level of enthused with new technology as you are.

I definitely agree it's a mistake to think that. That said, I do think LLM's or their direct successors are going to be more akin to Google search than the items you mention in terms of market penetration. And my comment was attempting to communicate that voice is today, and will be in the future a great way to interact with LLM's. I think you're saying you disagree with that, which is totally cool of course. Just thought I'd reply to share a little more of my thinking.

Re: Alexa+

#292

Post by Exoristos »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #111
delichon wrote: post #5

I've been spoiled by LLMs in my daily work and now want to put the same kind of prompts into search boxes. Not "air fryers" but "air fryers without bluetooth or wifi and less than 3 cooking modes, and no negative reviews about the device failing prematurely." I'm not going to let Alexa plus or minus listen into my whole life, but I would like some that of intelligence when I actually go shopping.

I've found Perplexity.ai with Deepseek R1 to be very good at choosing a product or a hotel for me. I just punched in your query and it actually chose the air fryer that's already sitting in my kitchen ! "Cosori Pro LE Air Fryer" It's a good air fryer. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/air-fryers-without-bluetoot... Another example, after spending an hour on trip advisor going back and forth to maps to check for walkin…

If I experienced your air fryer story, I'd assume the recommendation system had access to my shopping history somehow.

Re: Alexa+

#293

Post by kyleee »

cromka wrote: post #253
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has already done this. Destroyed its existing assistant product -- removed key functionality, de-staffed the team, moved it all under Gemini. I'm in a few Polestar car user groups, and people are pissed that their Android based head units can no longer do basic integration via assistant stuff that the car was initially sold to them able to do. In some cases they are blaming Polestar, in some cases connecting t…

I've been saying this for years, but I am still surprised there was no class action against Google for borking up their Home speakers. Mine literally don't even understand "STOP" anymore when I ask them to stop playing my podcast. I am not kidding, every couple months they lose some basic functionality. If that's not a modern version of planned obsolescence then I don't know what is.

That reliable stop feature was getting in the way of a “very smart person’s” promotion quest

Re: Alexa+

#294

Post by kyleee »

65 wrote: post #178
taeric wrote: post #123

I find it interesting that the big companies are so sure that LLMs are somehow going to make a larger market for smart speakers than they currently have. To the contrary, I expect they are going to damage the market they have for people that just want easy kitchen timers and radio like functionality. This feels like the VR plays some of the big companies have made. I'm willing to bet that the market for people that w…

I never understood how people find setting a timer on their phone so excruciatingly difficult that they need to buy a $100+ device they can speak to to do it for them. Or perhaps it's another case of shiny object syndrome.

Obviously nobody finds it excruciatingly difficult, but you have a severe lack of empathy and imagination if you can’t see the utility here. Timers while cooking (hands dirty and/or full), measurements while woodworking/crafting/making, etc. and more as detailed thoroughly in other comments

Re: Alexa+

#295

Post by kyleee »

blibble wrote: post #282
Aurornis wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They benefit fantastically from manipulating search results against you. Amazon makes money by selling products you want and loses money when you return them. They aren’t manipulating search results “against you”

being a retailer sucks, low profit margins however being a "platform" (i.e. middle-man) between retailers and customers is highly profitable guess which one Amazon is mostly now?

All while disclaiming all responsibility for all the low quality / dangerous / poisonous crap they facilitate sale of. Talk about having your cake and eating it too

Re: Alexa+

#296

Post by brewdad »

rurp wrote: post #223
Arthanos wrote: post #152

>Let’s say you need to get your oven fixed—Alexa+ will be able to navigate the web, use Thumbtack to discover the relevant service provider, authenticate, arrange the repair, and come back to tell you it’s done—there’s no need to supervise or intervene. This is a disaster waiting to happen. I don't trust an LLM to choose between two brands of dish soap for me let alone pick a contractor, schedule a repair, and make a…

Yeah there's roughly zero chance that works reliably. It's so prone to bad failure cases I'm skeptical that they'll even ship something that tries to do that automatically. On the plus side if they do ship this we should get all sorts of amusing stories out of it. I'm picturing someone saying offhand "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

"I backed the trailer part way up the driveway. I hope that's ok, sir."

"You'll want to feed him some oats unless you're ready to butcher him in the next two hours."

Re: Alexa+

#297

Post by brewdad »

mgiampapa wrote: post #199
cruffle_duffle wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the only thing this does is make it easier to control devices whose names I forget, than it is worth it. Because I never, ever remember what I name devices and to address them with the current implementation of Alexa I need to be pretty spot on.

You can take a few minutes to make a routine and give it a custom name. "Ziggy, goodnight" turns off all the lights in my bedroom, closet and office (in case I left them on), sets DnD mode on the Echo, turns it's screen off and sets my ceiling fan to speed 1. This took about 5 minutes to setup.

Ha! You just reminded me how we changed our Alexa to Ziggy while my kid was away at college. He came home over a break and was eventually screaming "Alexa" trying to get it to wake up.

Re: Alexa+

#298

Post by acdha »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #254
Marsymars wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SEO, except your goal is to be the contractor that Alexa picks for the subset of customers that meet whatever criteria you're targeting.

It's just SEO. Just targeted specifically at AlexaBot instead of GoogleBot.

It’s worse than that because SEO excreta is still shown to the user, who at least has a chance to question it. With this style of assistant, the user doesn’t even see what the bot saw and that opens up new areas for abuse which is harder to detect.

Re: Alexa+

#299

Post by CamperBob2 »

brewdad wrote: post #296
rurp wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah there's roughly zero chance that works reliably. It's so prone to bad failure cases I'm skeptical that they'll even ship something that tries to do that automatically. On the plus side if they do ship this we should get all sorts of amusing stories out of it. I'm picturing someone saying offhand "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

"I backed the trailer part way up the driveway. I hope that's ok, sir." "You'll want to feed him some oats unless you're ready to butcher him in the next two hours."

And you don't want to know what will happen if you tell it to invest in oil futures.

Re: Alexa+

#300

Post by CamperBob2 »

miohtama wrote: post #213
esafak wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet the people involved in the decision to bork it up don't even use the product. Management by OKRs. The numbers look good, ship it!

Customer satisfaction is not a number Google counts

It most assuredly is... but you're not the customer.
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