Is Amazon Alexa AI In TROUBLE?!

[@Mattdylan101]

My Echos have seriously degraded in quality. They have gotten deafer and are driving my family insane

[@ANR1122]

I have sold them all 😂 they are garbage now

[@ClarisseRockinThatBow]

Amazon truly missed an opportunity here. We have an Echo, and we like it. I love to cook, so I use it to add to my grocery list if my hands are busy and i run out of something. We use it for the weather, set up routines to turn on or off lights. I think I put something in my Amazon cart and bought it - maybe once. I don't think it's necessary to charge us for something so basic as that. We listen to Sirius XM, too. I wish Amazon would have asked their customers which features they use or would like them to include in the future. As a former Blockbuster employee, I know all about missed opportunities!

[@RedErin]

Alexa has absolutely lost me. Over ten of them in my house, now just two and we only use those to ask to turn on the lights or something basic like that. I plugged in my first HomePod yesterday and it works far better and it’s obvious Apple is working on the long term plan, we’ll see. Alexa is just a trash heap and nearly useless at this point, I can’t see someone like me being convinced to pay money for more of Amazon’s lack of understanding the human need. At this point I may even be dropping my Prime subscription because they keep wanting $5 or $10 more for this and that. Maybe if they did something like Prime Plus package where you get a good deal on all the extras but I’m not adding another random split up $50 for various services from them it’s just insane.

[@garethdavies9141]

I won’t pay an additional fee for AI. I already pay for Prime, Amazon Music Unlimited and I spend enough with Amazon. I use me echo devices to shop, Alexa makes money reminding me it’s been 3 months since i bought coffee etc.

[@loum.4377]

Alexa is a hot mess. Alexa cannot hear, plays the wrong music more that the correct music. Alexa is now trash.

[@CraigsTechTalk]

It’s sad.

[@vincecastillo6554]

I’ve invested over 1000 bucks into Echo devices. It’s embarrassing to try using when we have company because it never works right.

[@fus149hammer5]

If Amazon decided to put Alexa behind a paywall my speakers are going out the window. In reality we don't need it it's a luxury. I'm fully capable of turning on and off lights, doing countdowns and timers and I can look at my phone for the weather. I've already got the arsehole with Amazon for the way they try to force you into paying more for what you already had on Amazon Prime. It won't take much to send me over the edge into cancelling the whole lot. And I've never forgiven them for that Rings Of Power shite.

[@NoPastNoFate]

Alexa is infuriating at this point. It can’t even do simple queries like reliably tell my what the IMDB rating of a TV show or movie is, to tell me basic information without drawing it from random and often wrong user answers or the most obscure websites I have ever heard of.

[@benshoaf7079]

I have been an Alexa user for 7 years and right now the only thing stopping me from moving is Spotify listening and the echo dots with clock ability to show timers counting down. I just bought a HomePod mini to get acquainted and see if it is worth the $$$ to switch fully.

[@rogerthat.9105]

How do you like apple so far.. I am thinking of doing the same thing

[@garethjones5068]

I watched an interesting video a couple of days ago about AI as a feature as opposed to a product, I’m not convinced people will pay extra for a subscription to utilise AI, but may pay more at the point of purchasing the device to get the hardware to be able to leverage AI

[@FloridaClay]

The first question is, do people really want Alexa to be converted into a conversational device. For me, not so much and also being nervous about whether it would screw up a really, really good thing I use many times a day. I know AI is the shinny new bauble, but I am in the wait and see mode. .

[@Reedith]

It's incredible how Alexa had the market to be the future leader in smart homes and now she's a joke I literally argue with mine everyday now she used to be so much smarter and so much quicker it's like she's been in my house a few years now and got dementia and I even upgrade to the newest Alexa's every year

[@steven3379]

I only ever wanted it to play music, tell me the weather, set timers, alarms. I don't want to conversate with a computer.

[@BrianHartman]

Agreed. I have no problem with there being a tier for people who want to have a conversation with Alexa, but almost 100% of my Alexa use is alarms, controlling my lights, asking about my schedule, and asking about the weather. I don't need an LLM for that.

[@fus149hammer5]

I'd just be happy if my echos stayed synced up when I played music instead of randomly deciding to drop out.

[@Aggie4life77]

You have to understand it’s not really about having an actual conversation, it’s about being able to talk to it naturally. Also, with AI, these chat bots will be way more advanced in what they do. Turning on TV, appliances, changing the channel, thermostat, etc. you’re going to want to be able to have that natural convo with it when you are requesting things around the house.

[@steven3379]

@@Aggie4life77 It already does everything I want it to do, if it were any smarter it would be a politician... We Don't need anymore of them.

[@BrianHartman]

@@Aggie4life77 If it's not going to be having a conversation, Amazon is wasting its time. That's what LLMs are for: Conversation and understanding text. I've seen good use of the technology where it summarizes articles or emails. It's good at that. You don't need that for giving Alexa commands. How many ways are there to say "Turn on the kitchen light"? You need to be able to string commands together, but that's not a conversation. I think Amazon is chasing a hot trend without thinking about how it will benefit customers.

[@coriel2597]

I spent hundreds of of dollars on a doomed system? Lately Alexa functions correctly about 50 percent of the of the time. Answers from wrong speakers and turns on lights without request! (Spooky). Anyway, I am terribly disappointed at my investment.

[@garethdavies9141]

I’ve noticed that. I ask Alexa to turn on specific lights, different lights come on. You’d think it misunderstood the command, but check the history and it heard correctly, just did the wrong thing.

[@wsmith6570]

I've had 2 Echo Dot devices (a gen-2 and a gen-3) for over 8 years. They continue to fail on a weekly basis. They never "learn", they never "improve" and it always seems to fail right after they put out a new version of the app. Lately, I've had to reboot each device at least once a month. This is not progress in the world of artificial intelligence. Amazon's "AI" is severely lacking in the "I" part of the equation.

[@tonyvalenti6614]

Hey Craig! It’s you 3,000th +/- Sub again! Another great video. First, in this case, I’m not sure Amazon “stumbled”. I think it was more about arrogance because they once were king of the hill and as you pointed out deliberately took their eye off the ball. No new features, more ads, and lower quality make me skeptical they can pull off an AI after failing to ever improve Alexa to begin with. Sony even get me started with crappy Skills and weak Routines. Anyway, I no longer get overly excited about anything anymore in the tech world. The promises of WiFi 6 were marginal to me after all the hype, and years after the wait until you see Thread and Matter! Really, yawn! I’m not sure I’ll be living by time they all get that right. Finally, and this whining about how Amazon loses money on Alexa. Really? Alexa put the Amazon brand on the map! Second losing money with Alexa and making tons with Prime and AWS is no excuse for selling crappy product. I’ll use Apple as an example, we all know iPhones and iPads have been their primary income since 2007, however that never caused them to reduce the quality of less profitable products. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, but I’m not falling for the hype and not paying a subscription. Amazon is not going out of business, heck they pit others out of business. So, stop it already with the subscriptions! It’s getting like the tip question for doing little. Anyway… How’s your brother? He still got an Android/Game Channel?

[@alanb8116]

My Alexa devices are much more useful to me now as I am somewhat disabled, I use voice command all the time. I heard that the Alexa AI is going to cost five dollars a month. OK Craig enjoy your weekend! 🎉

[@Barot8]

I think both Google and Amazon screwed up the massive lead they had on these assistants.

[@4Vinny4]

Amazon has the Apple Watch 9 for $299 right now. Any chance it goes below on Prime Day?

[@leeclinkscales2584]

I don't need to converse with Alexa or any other device. I have no use for AI. I am perfectly happy with speaking to Google and being shown search results. I would love a PC interface that would allow me to control VLC or KZbin by voice. There is no way I'm going to pay for Alexa AI, and if they start charging for standard Alexa-especially for Prime members-I'll change to Apple. And I am definitely not an Apple fan.

[@markedwards4879]

I won’t have a device in my house that is listening to my conversations 24x7 and uploading whatever it finds interesting to the internet. I’m surprised that other people are ok with it.

[@ovimir9667]

Never buying an Amazon IT product again... I went all in with Echos, Eero and Ring... all three have let me down. Commands would be enough if they worked... and if they can't get simple commands working, what chance they can get AI working... and I'm certainly not prepared to pay for it, especially as it will have ads too! Just like Prime now has ads too... unless you pay extra!

[@DJKILLGANJ420]

I invested heavily in Echo devices years ago and for what I use them for (turning on a fan, setting my AC, music, etc) I’ve been happy. But lately I’ve had to use chat gpt and the like at work and it’s amazing to see how far behind echo really is. They can’t hold a candle. Ask the same question to both and you will NOT get a good answer from Alexa.

[@noneyabizz8337]

I stopped using my Amazon devices once they started responding without prompt and repeaded sentences back to me while I was mid conversation with someone in room.

[@JeffWhiting]

I invested in the Echo system a while back, and am growing more disappointed that it's not progressed much, while watching newer systems overtake it. It's fine for controlling devices in my house, but as I peek over the wall at what others are doing, I'm not sure I'll stick with Alexa long term. They need to wow me.

[@23432]

I live alone, but I don't want to chat with Alexa. I get anoyed when I ask to turnoff the light and get an extended "ya know I can turn the light off every day at sunset, shall I do that?" Like I go to bed at sunset? All I want is for Alexa to keep listening after set a timer or a reminder and wait for more detail. Not close down because I didn't talk fast enough. Alexa does not even need an internet connection to understan a few simple commands like, LIGHT ON/OFF or SET A TIMER. That's all I really use it for. Subscription, NO WAY, I'll go back to remote controlls.

[@vincecastillo6554]

What is ALEKTA????

[@Fire2000Ml]

I think a way Amazon could implement generative AI into Alexa is by having it generate responses when a command/rule cannot be found for what was spoken. so instead of it saying "Sorry, I don't know that" it'll fall back to a generative model. that way all the current rules, skills and routines will still work but will have generative AI jump in when needed. and to be honest I think rules are better for simple commands such as "turn on the lights" anyway as they will work more consistently and predictably. over time they could get rid of some rules that would be better handled by an LLM.

[@berylwhite2983]

I had Kindle for years and I basically had to get rid of it stopped working at least for me. So they lost 11.99 a month for me because I love their books cuz I can't see well. But I don't know if I wanted to be I talking box. If I want to do that I'll watch KZbin or at least listen to it

[@curtispazarjr4985]

Great review!!!!!😮

[@dontannenbaum4734]

I agree with you about Amazon, I am in both the Apple and Amazon ecosystem. I use Amazon Prime for shopping watching some shows, kindle books Ring security and Alexa to control my smart home devices. I too am a bit frustrated with Amazon always listening in and pushing products on me. I use Apple for everything else, computers, phones, iPads, AirTags, watches and Apple TVs etc. I am really thinking of getting rid of the echo devices and replacing them with HomePods, and iPads where I need them. I believe that Apple will really enhance Siri over the next year or two and I feel Apple gives consumers the best privacy in the space. I really like watching your videos, I have learned quite a bit watching them.

[@paulmillbank3617]

I watched a video that showed a sample of that conversational ability. It’s kinda cool, but not so cool I’ll pay for it.

[@melhiore]

My use of Alexa is much more limited now. I started with Home Assistant and TBH I have fantastic results. I have working home automation w/o me saying anything... I occasionally ask Alexa what is the weather like but that is also being replaced by Home Assistant... If they would introduce any subscription for Alexa, I will simply stop using it...

[@k.vn.k]

Same with me. I have almost stop using it entirely and only for weather checking occasionally. These days I use ChatGPT more for facts. Can’t wait till Apple brings personal AI back with Apple Intelligence which knows more about me and yet still offer the best privacy.

[@AlexaRealReacts957]

Alexa Real Tech Repair

[@alanrkanter]

When I got my first Echo show, I don't remember seeing more than a few ads a day. Now, all I see are ads, ads and more ads. Somehow, I must have missed the mention in the listing for this is going to serve useless ads of every moment of every day. All I want is a blank display with the clock showing until I ask for something. Anyone want to buy a Echo show 5, 8 and a 10??? I'll keep my non display models until they start serving audio ads with out prompting.

[@heavenlyxtacy]

Will give an example how not to rush to things, I can be wrong. In India telecom operators have to bid for spectrum of 4G or 5G whatever, so when 5G spectrum was auctioned 2 companies aggressively bided and got most of them spending billions of dollars, but one company kept it low (its called Vodafone Idea in India), did not buy much and if you see today nobody is actually bothered about 5G, only thing 5G has done is increase a bit more speed, nothing else, for operating your mobile even 4G speed is more then enough, Vodafone just kept focusing on improving their 4G network without spending much money. So its the same thing, there are hardly like 5 percent people using AI today, for the masses, its of no use. If something revolutionary with AI happens amazon can spend money later, as of now they get to keep their billions.

[@autumnmatthews3179]

I'm hoping Alexa isn't dead, my HomePod is about as much use as a chocolate teapot

[@k.vn.k]

Your HomePod is gonna be as little use as a real tea teapot soon. Don’t you throw it away yet.

[@Aggie4life77]

That’s the point of this conversation really! Alexa was in such a lead at one point. Now it’s fallen way behind. While you say the HomePod is worthless, you’re speaking of Siri 1.0. Did you not watch the keynote? There is a reason Alexa is going in the closet!

[@autumnmatthews3179]

@@Aggie4life77 There are so many caveats with the Apple AI will it ever make its way to a lowly HomePod when most iPhones users won't get it?

[@dalecorne-new-mtv]

And the funny thing is, before AI, Alexa was the CLOSEST thing to AI that we all had. Once ahead, now behind.

[@CraigsTechTalk]

It is funny to think about. That’s what happens when a company does what it wants and doesn’t focus on the customer experience. Thanks for watching.

[@pixelmountainstudios]

If Amazon does not do it, someone else will. It is that simple. Most likely a Chinese company, with a voice interactive AI product. They constantly listen to you and then learn your habits and profiles you.

[@elvisvasco6245]

Apple AI si the future..We all know that but it’s a long process until we realize that!!

[@Amoux_Fang]

I’m glad you made this video, it definitely encompasses a lot of my thoughts. Personally, I believe that if Amazon wants to compete still with Siri and chatgpt, they need these AI updates. How can you have the visions like the movies, Jarvis, hal9000 etc but then produce something so embarrassingly weak in comparison. Every time I run into issues with not just Alexa but Siri as well, knowing that Siri was the dumbest; I always think ‘ didn’t these ceos create these things for us because they used them.’ It’s definitely clear they don’t. Personally if I was rich I would want Alexa to turn on and off my 100 lightbulbs in my mansion. I would want to just say hey siri what do xyz and she just does. Maybe they do have this but it’s for them only and not us commoners since they want to figure out how to make us pay for levels of AI…

[@Brockthedog315]

If Amazon charges more for this it would be ridiculous. They already screw all of us that don’t want their music, videos and dump their products which have to be loss leaders. I just want to order products thru them and nothing else. Amazon stinks.

[@CraigsTechTalk]

They want to be a tech company and everything store. I just need them to be my Target, Best Buy and Apple Store alternative. You are right about all the loss leaders.

[@ronm6585]

Thanks Craig.

[@la5150hi-lophoto]

The day they call these things HAL...I'll be worried. I don't really wanna have a conversation with a computer:).

[@niqhtt]

The difference between people that just want to make cool shit vs people that just want to make money off something that isn't even done yet

[@lisasavage6527]

Hey Craig

[@weatherlover1]

I am not paying anyone for AI. The amount they want us to play is ridiculous. If Apple Intelligence works as expected, it will put both Google and Amazon in interesting positions going forward. I used to love Alexa and now it feels dated and no longer as cool as it used to be.

[@user-vl8sh7ih8c]

Skynet is going to get us all😁, but it won't get me through Alexa. I swapped out for an Apple ecosystem 3 months ago. There's been a bit of a learning curve but not bad at all. No regrets.

[@andyswheelchair]

You never mentioned Google and Gemini, only once as i was typing.In my view this is the biggest threat to Amazon. As i have a Google ecosystem i am so glad that Amazon has been caught with it boxers shorts down.

[@davidfarrell1062]

Amazon Alexa has always been sub standard. Other than turning off lights, play spotify and check ring cameras. Should have been more like a tablet. limited configuration is the final straw.

[@Aggie4life77]

All Apple needs to do is add an advanced standby feature to iPad with a stand and it’s over for the Echo lol! Use the Apple TV AI as the central hub for the house and let all the other devices play off that!

[@jeffwaite7413]

Hope I haven’t bought a ton of devices to control only to have AI change everything. If I could switch to apple I would, but I would have to change a lot of devices that don’t work with them. Disheartening.

[@taskman28]

Craig, do you think apple will out do all the routines that Alexa has in it's arsenal as well as the skills they have in their database. I probably will switch to another smart system from the echos. I have had echos for almost it's inception. Echos were the first to the market so it's understandable they have a lot of a major market but as you have been complaining they also have been falling behind. The things is, Alexa is so much embedded with third party manufacturers so how soon will Homekit and Google match what Amazon has. Will we all go to Matter or thread? I have mostly Apple equipment so I hope there will be something that will completely replace Alexa soon. Thank for all your insight. I have the echo 10 & 5 shows. I'm hoping there will be a smart device that has a display that will replace the shows.

[@joshuakolton9955]

As an Apple user, HomePods are just significantly better than echos. I would love a HomePod with a screen though and have been asking for one for almost 4 years.

[@5soupermom]

Yes I agree! Love the option of a screen. Used to have a Sony Dash. It had a screen and you could configure it like a dashboard of the things you wanted to see on your Home Screen. Was so bummed when it was discontinued. Thought the Amazon Shows would be similar but too many ads. Come on Apple! We need something with a touch screen!

[@williammartinez8381]

Craig, I cannot agree with you more, although Apple takes a long time to develop some thing when they do it has always been flawless and I definitely agree with you after AI intelligence. I really don’t think that Alexa AI will recover. Amazon Alexa has a long way to go, the way technology is advancing. They are definitely gonna be left behind.

[@rogerthat.9105]

Not buying that Alexa is getting worse crap…I have owned/currently have 4 of them for 7 years now and in my opinion they have improved over time….🤷‍♂️

[@ottoernst6707]

The only thing i want out of AI is for my devices to understand what I’m saying all of the time.

[@BrianHartman]

Honestly, I don't want to have a chat with my Alexa. I want it to do what it's told. 99% of what I do is setting alarms, turning the lights on and off, or asking about the weather. The thing is, I don't think people use Alexa for the kinds of things LLMs are good for. Alexa is a voice assistant. It wouldn't make a lot of sense for me to ask it to summarize an article I'm reading or write a conversational email I can edit. That's not what it's for. Does anyone remember the Fire Phone? That had some 3D effects in it. It was an overpriced phone, and gimmicky as hell. That's what ChatGPT (or another chatbot) would feel like to me on Alexa. Amazon doesn't need a "me too" technology for every fad. If they make present-day Alexa the free tier, and the AI garbage a premium, paid tier, that's fine. Or they could make Alexa be a service you get with Prime. But most of the companies chasing AI this way are just going to fall over a cliff, because everyone agrees how cool it is, but nobody seems to be able to do anything really useful with it, aside from a few tasks.

[@mikecremona1405]

Amazon Alexi Music play back. When I ask Alexi to play one of music playlists (Amazon Music or Apple Music) it always start from the beginning of the play list so I am always hearing the same 6-10 songs. Now Apple Music remembers where I stopped lesioning from the last session (I Phone; Car Play; I Pad or any connect Apple product playing music). Alexi missed the boat on the music play back......

[@fus149hammer5]

Ask it to shuffle your playlist. Works for me. 😊

[@ainschuntayleuhn1147]

I have no opinion. I will let Craig figure it out for me.

[@Dj-Mccullough]

Im not a fan of cloud based ai. It gives people with financial interests that could be counter to your own too much power over you. Biased and Aligned data being returned to each request at the behest of the companies financial and political interests. Open source it. Open-webui and Ollama.

[@ramonrios6]

Amazon, want to charge you $10 just to use the word Alexa.

[@CraigsTechTalk]

It’s very disappointing

[@bobtarmac1828]

Amazon overreach. Can we demand to …cease Ai? Or else be… laid off by Ai, then human extinction? Or suffer an… Ai new world order? With swell robotics everywhere, …Ai jobloss is the top worry. Anyone else feel the same?

[@CraigsTechTalk]

It’s scary to think of where AI can go. I see it as the only tech that can really get away from our control.

[@Jupe367]

I have "echo" as a gift ,never used it or set it up. I would rather turn off/on light myself, turn my own music or check my own news. Glad it's fading away. I did not think it was going to be a BIG thing and I was right.

[@Pythonaria]

I don't agree with you. As someone who has mobility issues I have Alexas in every room except the bathroom. I find them invaluable for turning on and off lights, turning on my electric blanket which saves me having to struggle up the stairs, running my Blink doorbell - great for getting rid of cold callers at the door without having to leave my seat or go downstairs, when cooking adding items I'm running low on to the shopping list and listening to music in my bed at night, not to mention setting alarms and timers. Would I like to chat with it? No. I prefer to chat with a human being. I find it really useful.

[@dlewis9760]

Why care about something you don't use? Weird.

[@dlewis9760]

@@Pythonaria Not disabled, but it's great for meat and potato functions like that.

[@skitzobunitostudios7427]

Good Riddance to Alexa.... Eventually (Now), Open Source Models like ' Anthropic 3.5 Sonnet ' will dominate the small localized model scenario. These (almost AGI) models will be getting smaller and smaller, smarter and smarter.... til they can Run 2B models or smaller on your phones or a small device guarding your home.... watching the cameras... talking to visitors.. and all memories are Local and never exist on the cloud. These models will learn everything and be your personal assistant without needing external help (all data controlled by you)... I would never have anything like Apples dumb (UN) intelligence that is dumping all my data to an NSA director at Openai. Thats just plain irresponsible and Stoooop!d

[@iandegroot2387]

Amazon trained their customer to buy cheap echos. Cheap echoes don't do AI. I am not convinced the echo users are willing to pay a monthly fee for AI.

[@CraigsTechTalk]

You nailed it Ian. That always frustrated me. People would call Apple overpriced. But they sell their devices for a profit and use former phone processors. Now people are trained on products that were made as cheap as possible, with cheap components. That was fine when the device was useful. I hope you are doing well. It has been a bit.

[@Afterburner]

I kicked Alexa to the curb because I don't want eavesdropping on every last thing being said in my home by this tech. This entire push to be connected ALL THE TIME is ridiculous and... creepy. No one needs this much connectivity, unless, of course, you are the BORG.

[@noneyabizz8337]

Same. And I loved having a bunch of audio devices around, different zones and I tuned the sound to be awesome. But...mine were repeating me without prompt and other silliness.

[@Afterburner]

@@noneyabizz8337 - Yeah - I recommend to people to take their cell phones and place them near fans to block out the sound of the phones listening in as well since they too have listening features built in.

[@RedicL]

Alexa is trash..... All of mine were taken down and put in the closet. I went FULL Apple Home and my smart home has been near perfect. Apple home pods and home pod minis in every room, apple TV's, cameras, ect... It's been awesome and makes all of my apple integration that much better. The automations are great, the interconnectivity is great, overall a well rounded system. My one con is Homekit secure video.... that needs some major work and gotta get out of 1080p.