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
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The emerging generation of “superhuman” AI models are so expensive to run that Amazon might charge you to use its Alexa assistant one day.
In an interview with Bloomberg, outgoing Amazon executive Dave Limp said that he “absolutely” believes that Amazon could start charging a subscription fee for Alexa, and pointed to the cost of training and running generative artificial intelligence models for the smart speaker’s new AI features as the reason why.
Limp said that the company had not discussed what price it would charge for the subscription, adding that “the Alexa you know and love today is going to remain free” but that a future subscription-based version is “not years away.”
Generative AI models require huge amounts of computing power, with analysts estimating that OpenAI’s ChatGPT costs $700,000 a day or more to run.
Limp, Amazon’s senior VP of devices and services, announced he would step down from his role at the company after 13 years a month before the launch of the new products.
Insider’s Ashley Stewart reported that former Microsoft exec Panos Panay is expected to replace Limp.
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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
Alexa is so bad though. Who’s going to pay for that?
“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”
“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.”
Siri was always shit but somehow managed to devolve even further lately. I never trusted her to do more than than turning lights on or off but now this shit happens:
Me: Siri, turn off the lights in the living room
Siri: OKAY, WHICH ROOM? BATHROOM, BEDROOM, KITCHEN, HALLWAY, LIVING ROOM?
Imagine living in a mansion with this cunt
I use Google to turn on my TV by saying ‘turn on TV’, easily done. But then when I ask it to adjust volume it asks me which TV… I only have one TV online and it had just turned it on.
Mine can’t ever seem to tell the difference between on and off if there is any sound in my house
Do you change the names of all your devices to people names? The living room lamp is Steve, the bedroom fan is Maryanne…
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.
Hey that’s only because Amazon, Google and Microsoft (et al) just doesn’t have the Money to Make it good!!
So what about 9.99 a month?
4.99 if you pay up front for a year?
Euh, or how much can you cough up, like for a year or at least for Q4, I’m literally on a bad roll here.
I’m not going to buy into a subscription model for something I’ve already paid for. This subscription model crap is complete bullshit.
We even tried to do it with heated seats recently. Like install heated seats in your car, but disable them in software. It’s crazy that companies think they can get away with this.
I get what you’re saying, but voice assistants are one of the main places LLMs belong.
Yes, but so much more. An actually useful assistant that could draft emails, set reminders appropriately, create automations, etc. would be worth A LOT of money to me.
I think if there ends up actually being a version of AI that is privacy focused and isn’t screwing over creators it’d be so much less controversial. Also, everyone (including me) is really, really fucking sick of hearing about it all of the time in the same way that everyone is/was sick of hearing about the blockchain. As in: “Bro your taco stand needs AI/the blockchain.”
im actually surprised companies havent tried to charge for voice assistants already considering pretty much everything you say to them gets sent to some service somewhere
Yeah… The moment they do that is the moment I turn off and disconnect every smart speaker I own, take them to the electronics recycling place, and start building out an open-source smart home setup.
I use commercial smart speakers because they’re easy and cheap. The moment they stop being one or the other is the moment they stop being in my home.
I shut mine off a while back when I was sure they were advertising stuff based on things we were talking about in the same room. We were discussing moving the chairs out of the office and the next time we went to play music she wanted to sell us new ones.
It might be a total coincidence but screw that.
and start building out an open-source smart home setup.
Why are you waiting? Home Assistant is here now and it works pretty damn well for running a smart home.
At this point all Alexa is / does is act as a voice enabler for my HA setup and even that will be going away soon. They’re working hard to have a localized VA of their own. It’s actually usable NOW it just doesn’t have “Wake Word” support yet so you have to PTT (Push To Talk) on something for HA to know you want to talk to it.
They could be handing those out for free and they’d still rot on the shelves. People just don’t know what to do with them and I am not certain Amazon does.
Charge for them? That’s meta verse idea quality.
