Amazon asks users for help with Alexa questions they can not answer



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The system is a bit like Quora but for smart speakers. When Alexa can not answer a query, the question will be posted on the Alexa Answers platform. Anyone who wishes can submit an answer, which Alexa will forward to the interrogator. Alexa will note that the answer is "according to an Amazon customer".

Amazon started testing Alexa Answers last year, but until now, the program was by invitation only. Today, the company has opened to the public. Anyone wishing to answer questions goes to the website. She will find the pending requests and will be able to answer them in 300 characters maximum. To encourage responses, Amazon will reward contributors with points and allow them to compete for "best contributor status".

As Quick business points out that Google can pick answers to quirky questions from the billions of pages of its search engine. Amazon does not have this possibility. It licenses data from hundreds of sources and determines the best response using an automatic learning algorithm. For the remaining questions, he is ready to turn to crowdsourcing. Bill Barton, vice president of Amazon for Amazon Information, compares Alexa Answers to Amazon product reviews. "Being part of Amazon's DNA is about engaging our community of users to provide more information to customers who ask questions," he said. Quick business.

To keep trolls at bay, Amazon claims to use automated filters to block blasphemy and avoid politically charged questions. It will rely on a positive or negative voting system to control quality responses and will involve human moderators, although the number of candidates it will hire or the frequency with which they will examine requests and responses will be limited. not clear.

"We rely on the positive energy and good faith of the contributors, and we use machine learning and algorithms to eliminate the noisy few, the few bad guys," Barton said. Quick business. "But we will not delete the magical experience that we can offer to 99 customers because one person had something different in mind."

The program may also involve users who are not comfortable with Amazon employees who listen to their audio recordings. Although Alexa Answers does not intentionally collect any personal information or audio recordings, it may seem odd that random users check your questions. Time will tell if Amazon's optimism can hold.

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