AT CES, ALEXA IS JUST EVERYWHERE
FROM CARS TO KITCHEN APPLIANCES, THE AI ASSISTANT IS MAKING A MORE PERSONAL PUSH
Bark out “Alexa” in the congested halls of CES, and you would have heard a chorus of devices, from cars to smartphones to appliances, answer back.
OK, so not literally, but Alexa is assuming an increasingly substantial role across numerous products, a sure sign that Amazon is leaning on its vocal digital assistant to spread artificial intelligence everywhere, and certainly go well beyond the popular Echo speaker where Alexa got her start.
Rival Google Assistant isn’t as prominent at this CES, though hot chipmaker Nvidia aims to expand its reach throughout the home, and Google announced integrations in the car with Mercedes- Benz and Hyundai. Rishi Chandra, the vice president for Google Home, also gave a talk last week on smarter homes for everyone.
Microsoft’s Cortana and Apple’s Siri have a much lower profile at CES as well, but none of these rivals should be underestimated in the voice- driven AI space, still in its relative infancy.
Amazon announced more than 35 new partners last week, some that embed cloud- based Alexa smarts directly into their products, and are completely independent of Amazon’s Echo, Echo Dot, Tap or Fire TV, which all come outfitted with Alexa. Some of the tie- in products still require Echos and Echo Dots, adding to the now more than 7,000 “skills” that Alexa is capable of.
Around the huge trade show you find Alexa as the voice behind the humanoid Lynx robot that UBTECH Robotics has just introduced.
And Alexa is a new voice inside Ford’s Sync3 infotainment system.
The Mate 9 phablet from China’s Huawei, which was released in the United States on Friday, became the first smartphone in the world to have Alexa preinstalled, pitting her against Siri in the iPhone, and the Google Assistant in Android devices.
Lenovo, another Chinese company, is bringing out the Lenovo Smart Assistant — essentially Lenovo’s version of an independent Echo- like speaker. It will cost $ 129.99 when it arrives in May, or $ 50 more for a model with premium Harman Kardon audio.
Alexa Voice Services will also be embedded into the yet- to- be priced LG Smart InstaView refrigerator. You might say “Alexa, we need ice” and the fridge will turn on the icemaker. Or you might use your voice to have Alexa search recipes or play music — InstaView is a Bluetooth speaker, too.
Needless to say, Amazon will presumably be all too pleased to have you restock the LG fridge by ordering groceries right then and there via Alexa and Amazon Prime.
Amazon, of course, is encouraging all of these partnerships.
“We’ll never be able to build all the potential devices out there between smart home and wearables, and automobiles,” Amazon Alexa Vice President Steve Rabuchin said in an interview. “We can’t do it alone. We look to the developer community to innovate on our behalf and innovate using Alexa.”
Whirlpool is among the companies adding skills that require Echo or another Alexa- enabled Amazon product. So you’ll be able to say to an Echo, “Alexa, ask Whirlpool to put the dryer into wrinkle shield” or “Alexa, preheat the oven to 350.”
You can similarly control Samsung’s new POWERbot VR7000 robot vacuum by voice through an Echo.
And starting this month, ADT customers will be able to arm and disarm their security via their voice and Echo products: “Alexa, tell ADT to disarm my security alarm, using PIN 3095.”
Of course, some products are compatible with more than one assistant: Belkin says its $ 34.99 Wemo Mini home automation smart plug works with Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, for instance.
All this activity is obviously good news for Amazon, but whether Alexa-everywhere is also good stuff for consumers will vary case by case.
I’m a fan of Echo, but it remains to be seen how well each partner exploits the Alexa relationship. There is always room for improvement. Google is further along, for instance, in letting you have a “conversation” with a digital assistant. And by no means count out Apple or Microsoft.
Still, anyone who has spent a lot of time with Alexa generally likes her.
“I think it’s going to help Amazon, and I think it’s going to help the industry because ( Alexa) is already an accepted format,” says Tom Campbell, chief technologist and corporate director for Video & Audio Center, a Los Angeles area- based retail chain. “So the more you can broaden that format into your car, into other devices, you’re comfortable with it because you already know and you use it and you trust it.”