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HALF MOON BAY, California – Alexa is growing. And that's exactly what Amazon wants.
The smart wizard, which debuted four years ago with the tech company's Echo device, has shifted from a handy gadget for streaming music to an ubiquitous domestic tool that can do everything from ignition on command of an Uber.
Amazon recently announced it has sold more than 100 million Alexa devices. And society is at the rendezvous. Last fall, she unveiled more than a dozen devices for the voice assistant, including a microwave and a wall clock.
Dave Limp, Amazon's vice president for devices and services, said that Alexa was "on the scale" and had gained the most power by making some parts of everyday life more practical.
"We started with the house; we are now adding the car, "Limp told the New York Times New Work Times last week.
He said that people find tasks that become habitual to them – things that are often very different.
"At least once a week, often every day, I get an email from someone who just said that Echo has changed their lives," said Mr. Limp. "They may not be very mobile, they may be a bit older and they find a company with Alexa, they find the opportunity to interact in a way that they could not before. "
Mr. Limp said that Alexa could feel a bit human because of "empathy".
"If you're an adult and you say you're depressed or suicidal," he said, "or that you're potentially a victim of domestic violence and you're talking to Alexa that way, we talked to experts what we should do in these situations. Alexa would try to connect you to a suicide hotline or domestic violence hotlines. "
He added that Alexa's personality would continue to grow thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
"Should we make it more conversational and less transactional over time? Yes, he says. "We have thousands of people working on that right now. The goal would be for an assistant of your choice to have exactly the type of conversation we have right now. "
But do people want their conversations recorded and saved in the cloud? Mr. Limp stated that "statements" were encrypted when stored, in the same manner as credit card data. He added that users could delete records as they wished.
"If you were wrong and said something you did not want Amazon to have anyone to see, you can delete these statements. Or you can delete each statement, "he said. "It's very important to understand that the reason we keep the data is to improve the system."
Last year, Amazon Echo accounted for 70 percent of smart speakers installed in the US, compared to 24 percent for Google Home and 6 percent for Apple HomePod. recent survey conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The analysis showed a sharp increase in the number of people with multiple smart speakers, up to 35% last year, up from 18% in 2017.
Michael Levin, partner and co-founder of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, has attributed the increasing adoption of smart speakers to less expensive devices introduced by Amazon and Google. "It also encouraged users to buy more than one," he said.
Levin said his company's research indicated that even though more consumers bought multiple devices, they remained loyal to one operating system. "Once the homeowner starts using one or the other smart home system, learns to use it, and completes it, it's extremely difficult to switch providers," he said. he declared. "This, of course, leaves Apple and the other latecomers behind."
This is not to say that people are replacing their smartphones with their smart speakers.
"We view these centers more and more as the center of a smart home or business, from fixed analogue to mobile technology," said Levin.
Micah Collins, director of product management for Google Home, said ambient devices, such as smart speakers and smart displays, complement personal devices like smartphones. "Users will interact with information and services through a growing number of devices in their daily lives," Collins said.
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