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submitted 1 year ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Running AI is so expensive that Amazon will probably charge you to use Alexa in future, says outgoing exec::In an interview with Bloomberg, Dave Limp said that he "absolutely" believes that Amazon will soon start charging a subscription fee for Alexa

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[-] Kalkaline@leminal.space 156 points 1 year ago

Alexa is so bad though. Who's going to pay for that?

[-] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago

“By the way, you can now pay for Alexa AI option if you want me to reply in a slightly smarter way, but I will still cut you off with ads and other useless things. To activate AlexaAI say activate”

[-] db2@sopuli.xyz 52 points 1 year ago

"Welcome to the PiHole, Alexa."

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[-] JonEFive@midwest.social 27 points 1 year ago

"No"

"I heard 'activate'. Thank you! Your credit card will be charged $129 annually. To cancel, please log on to the website because there's no way we're letting you get out of this mess the same way we got you into it."

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[-] art@lemmy.world 125 points 1 year ago

We need to move AI from the cloud to our own hardware running in our homes. Free, open source, privacy focused hardware. It'll eventually be very affordable.

[-] pyldriver@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

God I wish, I would just love local voice control to turn my lights and such on and off... but noooooooooooo

[-] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 12 points 1 year ago

It's the year of the voice for Home Assistant. Given their current trajectory, I'm hopeful they'll have a pretty darn good replacement for the most common use cases of Google Home/Alexa/Siri in another year. Setting timers, shopping list management, music streaming, doorbell/intercom management. If you're on the fence about a Nabu Casa subscription, pull the trigger as it helps them stay independent and not get bought out or destroyed by commercial interests.

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[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 88 points 1 year ago

AI is being touted as the solution to everything these days. It's really not, and we are going to find that out the hard way.

[-] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 42 points 1 year ago

I get what you’re saying, but voice assistants are one of the main places LLMs belong.

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[-] 5BC2E7@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago

Alexa is more like a telemarketer disguised as an assistant. Every interaction is followed by a “by the way . Its a shit experience so I stopped using mine.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 41 points 1 year ago

Alexa was designed explicitly for that purpose. They lose money on every Echo sold, the whole idea was they would make money selling you stuff. Turns out people would rather use their Echo to check the weather, get recipes, etc. rather than voice shop.

[-] hightrix@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

I just can’t see a use case for voice shopping. There are almost zero instances where I want to buy something without having a visual of that thing in front of me at time of purchase.

I could possibly see something like “buy another stick of deodorant”, but even then I want to see if there are deals or some other options and would want to check the price at a minimum.

Seems like yet another MBA idea.

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[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 58 points 1 year ago

So they expect that people pay for being spied upon and seriously data mined?

[-] BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 39 points 1 year ago

Yes and people will pay for it.

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[-] galaxies_collide@lemmy.world 57 points 1 year ago

So they get massive amounts of free data for Machine Learning, but want to charge users for supplying it?

[-] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 year ago

It's like charging you for cable and then shoving ads down your throat.

[-] billiam0202@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

It's like charging you for Prime Video and then shoving ads down your throat.

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[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 year ago

That's often the case. They can have their cake and eat it too. Shareholders would expect nothing less.

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[-] DemBoSain@midwest.social 44 points 1 year ago

Alexa has a feature where you tell it you're leaving the house and it will listen for smoke detectors or breaking glass, alerting you through your phone if it detects something. Amazon is putting that behind a paywall next year.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

Let me in your house and I'll observe it for you for less money

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[-] DigitalFrank@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

I already don't use it, you don't have to sell me on it.

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

...charge me to use Alexa?

I already avoid it like the plague.

[-] topinambour_rex@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

I have doubts alexa is using AI, seen how dumb it is, but well

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[-] OrangeCorvus@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Good luck, I guess? Got the first Google home, at first it was great, I was asking it tons of questions. Then the questions stopped, used it for turning on the lights and other automations. Then I installed Home Assistant and the only command Google Home got was to set a timer to know when to pull things out of the oven. Eventually I stopped doing that.

At the moment all Google/Nest Homes have their mic cut off, I only use them to stream music in my house from my NAS via Plex. So yeah..

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[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 30 points 1 year ago

How to make me go back to buying shit in person, by Amazon.com

[-] kamen@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

Something tells me that they'll still listen to you for free.

[-] gearheart@lemm.ee 27 points 1 year ago

Their using the public to train AI. Then charging the public for the AI it trained.

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[-] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

They thought people would be like "Alexa, but me a ton of shit on Amazon" but people just use it for timers and the weather

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[-] Mojojojo1993@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

I use Alexa as a way to use an old speaker system. I wouldn't pay to use any "smart" speaker systems. They are pretty dumb and I've already paid once

[-] tinfox@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

Ok. I'll be the weirdo. If it's actually useful, I would pay for it.

Not if it's just the parlor trick that it currently is.

[-] theragu40@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

This is the killer for all this shit right now as far as I'm concerned. All of it lives squarely in "huh...neat" territory. I have yet to see anything I felt was truly necessary. Until that happens, paying is a non starter for me.

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[-] rockandsock@lemm.ee 25 points 1 year ago

Oh no!

I'll just have to install a weather app and use the timer on my stove instead of using Alexa.

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[-] EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 1 year ago

They're never going to be satisfied with the amount of money that have.

[-] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

That’s capitalism. Endless growth. Grew 1000%? Grow more. More. More. More.

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[-] WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 year ago

We upgraded our technologies so much that it'a becoming unsustainable for us, so we are increasing prices.

[-] Random_user@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

All I want alexa to do is turn my lights on and off, set timers, and show me my own pictures. And it can BARELY do that without fucking it up. Everyone I know wants the same, they expect nothing more from it. "AI" features of Alexa aren't t needed or wanted by anyone I've talked to about it.

[-] wer2@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

My Home Assistant Voice is getting really close to displacing Alexa.

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[-] FidiFadi@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Has Amazon considered making a stationary AI?

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[-] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

They won't be charging me, because I don't buy shit from Amazon, and don't use their spy platform.

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this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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