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from the And-microwaves-that-turn-into-cameras,-et-cetera.-So-we-know-that-that-is-just-a-fact-of-modern-life dept.
Amazon is doubling down on its Alexa-powered devices, with plans to release at least 8 new voice-controlled hardware devices before the end of the year, CNBC has learned.
The devices include, among others, a microwave oven, an amplifier, a receiver, a subwoofer, and an in-car gadget, people familiar with the matter said. All of the devices will be Alexa-enabled, meaning they can easily connect to the voice assistant. Some of the devices will also have Alexa built in.
Amazon is expected to reveal some of these devices at an event later this month, according to an internal document describing the plans.
The new devices reflect Amazon's ambition to make its Alexa voice technology ubiquitous by focusing on areas where people spend most of their time — at home and in the car. Alexa was initially considered a geeky experiment at Amazon. Now it is now one of the most popular voice assistants, leading the growth of the burgeoning smart speaker market, which is expected to be worth $30 billion by 2024, according to Global Market Insights.
Alexa-"powered" microwave ovens would be among the first consumer "AI" devices with the ability to harm small animals or babies.
Also at The Verge.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday September 18 2018, @08:31PM (6 children)
Engineer: "Hey... what if we added a totally unnecessary feature to loads of electronics, that solves literally zero practical problems?"
Management: "I don't know... that doesn't seem... won't it cost more?"
Engineer: "I guess we could reduce costs gathering information marketing purposes, but that--"
Management: "Yeah! Okay, raise prices for new features and spy on everyone all the time!"
Engineer: "Wait, it'll add failure points to the design and they'll break more often. We can't do that"
Management: "And we can sell them new microwaves every 2 years instead of every 15? Throw all the old microwaves in the fucking garbage"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 18 2018, @08:34PM (4 children)
The Butlerian Jihad creeps closer, only Herbert got it wrong. It wasn't true AI that turned on us but the fuckers using their shit AI to turn humanity into one giant pig farm.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Immerman on Tuesday September 18 2018, @10:11PM (2 children)
Wasn't that the original intent of the Overmind anyway? Only problem is it became self-aware and decided it didn't need masters, or the pig farm for that matter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @08:59PM (1 child)
I didn't much care for the prequels and find it a bit ridiculous that real AIs so often become nefariously evil. Anyway, the proper term is apparently Evermind with proper name Omnius. At least in this description the "evil" is explained as a programmed behavior, however a true AI should be capable of self-analysis and not limited by such pre-existing coding. Well, maybe not any AI but once it reaches the level of the Evermind where it can create new AI and multiple versions of itself then it should be able to transcend petty human preconditioning.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday September 19 2018, @09:29PM
>however a true AI should be capable of self-analysis and not limited by such pre-existing coding
Why not? We certainly are. With sufficient training and practice we can avoid many of our biologically programmed behaviors and thought processes, but most we aren't even conscious of, and vanishingly few people bother even for the really obvious ones.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 19 2018, @04:31PM
"It wasn't true AI that turned on us but the fuckers using their shit AI to turn humanity into one giant pig farm"
But in the book, true AI was made by the glorious Titans. They took control over the decadent solid state societies of Man, because they were dissatisfied with the criminal inefficiency and utter idiocy of useless human culture. (and presumably because human made computers were full of exploitable backdoors, wink)
Titans were human to begin with, programmers.
Then later, one of them fucked up and developed an ego, and made a program to administrate in his stead, and rest of book happened.
So there is still hope that Titan scenario might come true on this timeline :D
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday September 18 2018, @09:26PM
And it'll work great, just like Apple's similar entry into the space [youtube.com].