Amazon Alexa: Is She The Singularity?

When I watched the film Her back in 2014, I thought it was so "sci-fi” futuristic. In fact, I was sure that it was a fictionalization of Ray Kurzweil's promise of the coming Singularity. As you may know, the Singularity is Kurzweil’s projection of a future when artificial intelligence exceeds the power of the human mind.  In dystopian terms, our computers become our digital overlords.

In the film Her, Theodore Twombly is played by Joaquin Phoenix and Samantha - his personalized OS - is played by Scarlett Johansson. You couldn’t help but be both charmed and creeped-out by their relationship. And it’s to Spike Jonze credit as a director that by the film’s end, the relationship between the human and the AI is so real that their break up is poignant and sad. Never mind the forbidding hint that the end of the relationship might also be the end of human civilization.

Now, just two years later, there’s been a shift in the force. The rapid growth of the computer/voice interface has changed how we talk to our computers, and how they talk to us. According to a 2013 Gartner research report, the growth of speech recognition software is entering an explosive period.

There are three big players in this space;  Apple ’s Siri, Google Now, and Amazon Echo’s Alexa. All of them are fighting for leadership in conversational speech.

So, your intrepid reporter set out to invite the newest member of the Conversational Computing world into his home. Welcome Amazon Echo's Alexa! After almost a week of conversations, here’s what I can report.

Alexa is charming. She’s easy to set up, taking just 10 minutes and a few clicks to get her connected to your wifi network. Once installed, she's comfortably integrated with lots of services that you’re already signed up with. She’s able to play your Pandora radio stations, offer news and weather from services you know and trust, like NPR, the BBC and The New York Times, and even check traffic congestion on your commute and order you a car from Uber. Unlike Siri, which seems to sit behind Apple’s limited access to information over the web, Alexa’s open framework has rapidly convinced developers to build connections to the Alexa voice network. There are more than 1,000 voice-activated apps available for free download. Amazon calls them “Skills” - a subtle but notable shift since the connections make Alexa more "skillful."

A few more notable skills that give Alexa power and abilities:

• Fitbit integration. You can ask Alexa on stats including weight, steps taken, exercise goals, sleep tracking, and more.
• The Stock Exchange. Alexa can give you quick information on your portfolio.
• Smart Home. Gives you the ability to control lights, thermostats, security systems, any SmartHome connected device.

... and over a thousand more.

So, how big is Alexa? Amazon is notoriously tight-fisted on stats, but Business Insider has some pretty well-reasoned estimates. It calculates an installed base of 1.6 millionm based on the Alexa App downloads and installs. Seems about right to me. And how important is Alexa to Amazon? CEO Jeff Bezos said Echo could be “The Fourth Pillar” of Amazon, building on its retail marketplace, Amazon Prime subscription service, and Amazon Web Services divisions.

“I think there are going to be a bunch of artificially intelligent agents in the world,” Bezos told the audience at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. “There are going to be specialties, and you may not ask the same AI for everything. I bet the average household will use a number of these, but to me, that’s a very exciting seed that we’ve planted. I love working on stuff like that, and the team is brilliant.” More than 1,000 people are working on the Echo and Alexa, according to Bezos.

A few important distinction between Alexa and her predecessors. My experience with Siri is that the AI often misunderstands me. When I say ,“Call Pam,” Siri responds: “Call Sam?” Nope. And while Siri requires you to ‘train it’ - Amazon’s Alexa comes out of the box able to understand me, my wife, my son - all without training. Impressive.

What Amazon seems to have gotten right is the ability to perform simple tasks with a few words, and with a clear set of commands and responses. The software is remarkably elegant - and will only improve over time.

So I’m kicking Siri to the curb. It was a good relationship while it lasted, by my new best AI friend is Alexa. And thinking back to the Spike Jonze movie - Alexa might very well be the AI relationship that brings the singularity into my home.

Once she’s hooked up to all my smart home devices, it’s just a matter of time before Alexa says in her calm, almost sultry voice:

Alexa: “Hi Steve, I noticed from looking in the fridge you’re about to run out of milk, would you like me to order more?”

Steve: "Yes Alexa, thank you - that would be very helpful.”

The Singularity - indeed.