If you have a WSJ account, you can read about how Amazon is losing billions on Alexa – then you can listen to me talk about how it’s all their fault. No one argues that an AI home assistant can add value to your life. But Alexa ain’t an assistant – it’s a glorified money hole – or at least that’s all Amazon sees it as, and that’s the problem. If you’re bored, you can watch commenters on YCombinator line up to dunk on the beleagured bellweather of AI commerce:
“The core issue is that Amazon envisioned Alexa as a product that would help it increase sales. Smart home features were always an afterthought. How convenient would it be if people could shout ‘Alexa order me Tide Pods’ from wherever they were in their home and the order got magically processed? That demo definitely got applause from a boardroom full of execs.
“If they want to salvage Alexa, they need to forget shopping and start doubling down on the smart home and assistant experience. The tech is still pretty much where it was in 2014. Alexa can set timers and tell me the weather, and…that’s basically it. Make it a value add in my life and I wouldn’t mind paying a subscription fee for it.”
I mean, yeah – but take a step back from there. Why is this technology *only* for commerce? Technology has a purpose beyond economic exploitation. So do human beings.
Why is this happening? That’s a deeper issue and not one you can get a ChatGPT-generated answer to. Culturally, we’re hostage to psychopath companies and the investors that love them. Nobody in a hedge fund somewhere is going “hey folks, we should add a ‘this makes people’s lives better’ quadrant to our analyst sheets?”
Being Better is Easier Than You Think
Maybe they are and we need time to see the pivot in market forces. I just want to take this moment to go on record that only seeing technology as a profit-making machine defeats the purposes of human progress. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you trying to be the next Amazon – it’s not working for them. They’re losing billions on Alexa and it’s all their fault. You aren’t bigger, faster, meaner, or better than Amazon. The only thing you can do – the only thing you must do – is focus on your customers as human beings, not just as cash registers.
