omasou

charlesn said:

omasou said:

charlesn said:

Considering how badly Apple has fumbled voice assistant technology--Siri remains, as ever, the dumbest student in the class--I have concerns about how well it will deploy advanced AI capabilities. I am all-in on Apple devices EXCEPT when it comes smart speakers and voice-controlled lights and appliances. Part of the reason is because Siri continues to be frustratingly and profoundly stupid--but mainly, it's because Alexa and Google are in everything and Siri is not. Siri debuted as an iOS app 14 years ago this month. Then Apple bought the company that developed Siri just two months later. Meanwhile, Amazon wouldn't debut Alexa for another 4.5 years--but it totally blew away Siri capabilities when it hit the market. How Apple frittered away a years-long head start in voice assistant technology is beyond me, but they did and Alexa became ubiquitous.

I think Tim said what he had to say today for the benefit of Wall Street because Apple is simply not in the conversation when it comes to AI... except to ask, "Where is Apple in all of this?" which is not the question you want raised. The lack of specifics in what he said did not inspire confidence that there are specifics to tout--I guess he's hoping to have some by WWDC in June. And you can blah, blah, blah all you want about how much AI is already in Apple products, but it doesn't change the fact that, as a company, they are not in the AI conversation like MSFT, NVDA, GOOG, META, etc. 

As a creative professional--you know, a prime target market for Apple--AI is already having a profound and beneficial effect on my work flow. And none of the tools I'm currently using are connected to Apple in any way. 

Siri works fine for me.

Oh but Alexa is doing so well /s

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/amazon-lays-off-alexa-employees-as-2010s-voice-assistant-boom-gives-way-to-ai/

https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazoncom-cut-several-hundred-alexa-jobs-2023-11-17/

It really pays to look at the sources for what you read and not just the headlines. Since Amazon has never broken out Alexa separately in its quarterly reports, I was curious how anyone could possibly report accurately on the Alexa numbers. Well, there's an answer: they can't. What we know is that the division of which Alexa is a part has been losing money--the Worldwide Digital Services unit. At least, that's what "a person familiar with the division" told Business Inisder. Great source, huh? Not even an "Amazon employee who must remain anonymous." Know what else is in that unit? Prime Video. Now consider that streamers that charge $5-$20/month per subscriber have been losing money hand over fist on streaming... $1 billion per quarter in losses is not unusual with Netflix being the only exception. Amazon has made huge investments in Prime Video--half a BILLION on Lord of the Rings alone, which flopped--and they've been giving this streaming content away for free to Prime members. Gee, I can't imagine why that would be contributing to that division's financial problems. Know what else gets lumped in as an "Alexa" problem? The fact that Amazon loses a ton of money on its mediocre hardware line that it essentially sells at cost. This is because of Alexa? No, it's what happens when you try to sell "meh" hardware at unprofitable prices. No voice assistant can save you from that dumb strategy.