Alexa is so glitchy now I wouldn't want to actually pay anything for the service. For example, I have a routine to give me the weather and traffic reports. Half the time it does, the other half of the time is give me the Wikipedia definition of the word "traffic". No reports.

Just about had enough of Amazon with their backdoor charges they seem to bring in , im done if anything else's is tied up with charges

Well alexa will be done.

If we were being honest, all companies would like to put their services behind pay walls. Look forward to more companies doing it! The video game industry has totally gotten out of control with this!

This kind of thing has been happening for decades. Example, you buy a car, you pay taxes when you buy the car. You pay taxes for the fuel needed in the car. You pay yearly taxes on the car. You pay taxes for the roads to drive the car. You pay insurance to drive the car. Essentially you dont ever own it or the right to use it.

I never trusted Amazon, and I always disable these "features".

Aren’t we already paying for Alexa with our prime/amazon subscription??

If they charge for my Alexa, there will be a huge number of working Alexa devices selling for $1 or trashed.

Thanks, Brian! This is probably going to be the year when we need to reassess all of our virtual assistant needs. What new systems will have the greatest capability and be able to both tie into our existing hardware and meet our ongoing needs?

You are putting out this video saying Amazon won't charge for the things you already have one week after Amazon said they are killing "guard" but most of the features are now available with the $6 a month "Emergency Assist" subscription.

THANK YOU, for this video. That helped. That relatively short video answered many questions. WE APPRECIATE YOU !!

I had two Alexa's, one 8" and one spot. The spot gave up last year and 8" is only used as a timer in the kitchen so no loss if it stops!

Thanks for explain the actual situation Brian. Very clear

Hi brian, seems i cant find the google bard video link?

Thank you so much for the update.

I only use mine to play sounds to fall asleep to and timers. The moment that is no longer free, I'm going to get rid of them

I’d pay for them to stop trying to lock all their shit down

Thanks for more great info, Brian. I noticed you ended with "Live smart"... I like it.

They need to be careful. If rumors are true and Siri/Generative AI will be a big focus for iOS 18 last thing Amazon wants to do is launch theirs and then Apple one ups them.

Dystopian hellscape we live in

For this to fly it will need to be above and beyond, as it is the existing voice command recognition on Alexa devices have been woefully disappointing. I'm an early adopter and had high hopes and like most people, I have subscription fatigue. I see a slim to nil chance of adding yet another subscription, if anything I'm cutting down on subscriptions and quite possibly these type of devices. Don't forget Amazon just launched prime video fee for no ads, talk about taking away the carrot, and this all after paying an annual Prime fee.

Ridiculous. But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me after they started charging if you dont want commercials for Prime Video

Goodbye Mrs. A, Hello Apple HomeKit

Thanks!

I don't want to chat with Alexa, I want it to actually understand what I'm asking it to do based on context far better. It's not great at that now.

I will call it Remarkable Miss-ing A! I will not pay for endless subscriptions in life!!!

I just use my Alexa Dot as a clock and a glorified light switch.

Thanks Brian.

Excellent, non-sensationalized analysis! I'm excited about a more sophisticated higher level, optional version of Alexa. Amazon as a company did not get this far being self-destructive and dumb!

I'm already paying the new few for ad-free Prime Video!

I’m pretty invested in the Alexa world, but one thing I will change is to never buy Amazon-brand smart switches and the like; they are locked to Amazon/Alexa. Instead I will use other brands like Kasa that will work with Google and (if you pay more, Siri) too. At least it’s a little flexibility.

I already stopped buying Amazon products and will dispose of them when they aren’t of any use to me anymore, assuming power is still on by then.

If they combined Ring and Alexa into the same service with one subscription then I might be interested…

Say it isn't so, Brian!

I rarely use voice assistants these days, if they start putting automation functionality behind a paywall I’d be much more annoyed

Amazon needs to include it free the people who are paying the extra three $3 to eliminate commercials on prime video

Amazon just added a subscription for ad-free viewing of Prime Video, you know, the videos you already pay a subscription to watch (previously ad-free). Nothing they do at this point surprises me.

It is pretty evident that miss A will be a substandard product. You don’t deliver state of the art products after cutting your staffing by 50% which is exactly what Amazon dead.

Remarkable Miss A.. RMA 😂 return merchandise authorization , subliminal and 1000% talked about in board room lol

I miss the days when a video less than 10 minutes is considered short.

Amazon wants to start charging, but the Echo devices continue to perform worse and worse. My first Echo was the ‘smartest’ by far. Now, Alexa doesn’t even hear/understand me correctly, and when she does, she still doesn’t respond properly. This is all incredibly disappointing.

I'm so close to just ripping both my alexas out and just using good old fashion switches and lightbulbs. I'm not interested in having a conversation with my alexa. She barely understands me now and I doubt it will work any better with a large language model because it's still reliant on 3rd party skills that aren't maintained well and frequently go down or just stop working.

Thanks for answering my question! People that had Echo devices before this charge should be grandfathered in to not paying it! That's just my opinion

Thanks, I was pretty sure that's how it would go. I wish they would fix how buggy the existing system is. Jeff Bezos could abstain from buying another yacht to fund that. Jus' sayin'.

Helpful info. Just gotta say that subscriptions have gotten out of control. Feels like we’re about to hit a revolt period, much like tipping did recently.

If Miss A doesn't work, then they will just increase the price of prime and include it. Great video

Maybe I'm in the minority but if the paid-for Alexa is genuinely remarkable in something other than name then I'd be perfectly willing to pay a subscription. Maybe Amazon could soften that blow for some by offering the ability to bundle the fee with Prime and/or Amazon Music fees for various discounts a bit like Apple does with Apple One. Right now I'm still torn between Amazon and Google assistants and have both in my home. Alexa hears me significantly better, false-triggers less when I'm watching TV, and is much faster responding to all types of requests but as soon as I go beyond turning stuff (lights etc) on and off in my home I find Google Assistant way better at giving me public transport directions, estimating journey times, answering general knowledge questions, doing calculations, understanding/retaining context etc, etc, etc. If the next-gen Alexa can even just match Google Assistant's current performance I would pay just for the elegance of not needing to have 2 devices (one Echo and one Nest Audio) in various rooms in my home. I've got the say though that I'm not 100% sure Amazon will get there. I'm pretty confident that an LMM system will be better at context and if they can address the hallucinations then it will probably be pretty good at general knowledge but I use my devices quite a lot for things like "When does close today?", "How long will it take me to walk to ?" or "When is the next train from my into London?" and for those sorts of queries Alexa is way worse then Google (often totally useless). I suspect the worse performance from Alexa in answering travel/map/timetable types of questions is in no small part down to Amazon just not being as good as Google in capturing and updating what I believe Google calls "ground truth" - things like timetables, shop opening hours, or the changes when a new shop opens somewhere or something closes down. I'm not sure whether "Remarkable Alexa" will address any of that so I might still need to stick with my Google/Amazon mix.

Time to invest in dumb switches and bulbs - who wants to subsidize tech on a subscription basis when it's not even reliable? Now that would be truly dumb!

😮😮😮

For me my smart speakers have become reduced to Online Radio devices in each room, now that I have sensors and switches which activate tasks around the house. With current inflation it is normal for things that used to be $1 to now cost $2. The same applies for things that used to cost $0 going to cost $1. I would prefer to pay a higher product price and have no monthly subscriptions for the first two years, as for me I see Smart speakers not playing a future part of my smart home regardless of cost, but additional cost will make this happen quicker.

Keep it free

I'm not paying a dime I'll throw this in the waist dump Free or nothing I won't upgrade..

Brian, very interesting coverage on how Amazon will enhance its voice assistant with A.I. It seems to me that Amazon is trying to squeeze every nickel it can by charging more for services that already exist, like Ad free prime TV, Now charging a fee for something that already existed. With Amazon stock prices skyrocketing, you think they would offer more of the same great services for the same price. Getting really fed up with charges for ad free, now charging for guard services, etc.

So the more advanced version of Alexa will be charged for. But the current alexa AI is free.

I won't pay a dime for Alexa. It only works half the time so they got a long way to go to encourage me to pay extra.

Suspect 🤔 the existing system will not get any new features. Hahaha gently forcing you to change.

I have decided to go no further with Alexa purely down to the awful app. I have moved towards HomeKit which works better with iPhone give controls in control centre. Iv found Alexa routines which I still use to be unreliable sometimes or just slow. Nothings perfect on this smart home journey.

Everyone trying to stuff in AI and use cloud, which means their costs go up a LOT and then easy to make things paid. Smart ones will use local version and just update them. Pretty sure that's going to happen with 3rd party products, which means less reason to pay for it anyway.

Soon as they do it i removed amazon simpol xx

Nope, No, Not from Moi. I'm not adding a sub. Needing proprietary hardware is bad enough. I'm migrating to the Home Assistant "Assist" regardless. It meets my needs, is much more secure and can be done locally. I'm not that far from a keyboard at any time if I need to research something. Subscription services in general are going to take a hit in 2024. Too many, too expensive will be the cry of many consumers. It's already starting.

Amazon can only be classified as one of the worst companies when it comes to corporate greed. What they do to third-party sellers on their site is one very clear example of that. As an engineer, you know that development comes with cost. The idea that they will continue to develop for two platforms going forward is unrealistic. Yes, for now, it will continue to be free. However, I think we can all see what's coming. New features will not come to the free version, new hardware will only be supported if you pay and as things break the only fix will be available to subscribers. I dumped Alexa for google years ago and the time to switch again to perhaps something open sourced may be approaching.

The Amazing Alexa would have been better

I have paid for Amazon Prime since the inception, but I am very close to cancelling Prime before the next automatic renewal. I pay more and more for less. Amazon just laid off a lot of their hardware team, including Alexa devs. Amazon is going all in with generative AI, like everyone else, and they want to be first with a killer product. Anyone who thinks the existing Alexa infrastructure will remain as-is, including being free is just self deluded. Old skill support will slowly die. Google kills projects that people use all the time with not much backlash. Amazon knows this. Time for every Smart Home fan to examine products that work 100% offline. My old Smart Home is dead currently, and I am waiting on a reliable alternative to my past choices. All the above is conjecture, but having worked in the software industry for years, I have gotten pretty good at calling this stuff. Beware, my friends.

Bye bye Alexa!

If you haven't cancelled your prime membership by now you're just being jacked for your money.

Because Bezos greed knows no limits

Great way to send all these spyware ridden devices to landfills! 😀

Bard is incorrect over 50% of the time it's total rubbish...

I don't use it, won't ever use it. I can get up turn my own lights off, I can turn my own radio on, I am not a lazy **er. That is useless and a waste of money! Too each their own, I guess. It's not for me! I wouldn't pay for Facebook either, I would disable my account, KZfaq as well! I don't need this shit, it's just something to do sometimes for me. A lot of us grew up without internet, so I could totally live without it too. I don't need it, it just passes time, makes bills easier to pay!

Alexa has been getting anoying over the last few months and I am sure she is being dumbed down. I am slowly moving over to Apple and will run a mix of different assistants for a while and convert lights and stuff over to matter/thread

i have a fire stick an echeo and a show if i have to subscribe extra to use the service being i am blind i will take my devices offline simple and use google if i have to pay extra for google i will take that off line beong i have a fixed income i wont be able to afford it.

Didn't Amazon sack thousands of their developers from the Alexa development team last year? How are they going to make their services "remarkable" with half the people who write the integration and provide support? Moreover when a company/government tells you they are going to introduce something that will improve your experience, it is almost always a lie and do the exact opposite. Been alive 51 years and if there's one constant it's people lie and people with lots of power and money lie all the time.

I'm carefully unsubscribing from EVERYTHING! Ditched prime renewal a month ago.

People will soon wake up to this paywall epidemic. You pay for their hardware and then pay to use it. Im slowly getting rid of this stuff out of my home. Alexa has become a really expensive radio for example. I can buy DAB radio for a few quid. The 120 quid doorbell i have then pay to use it can be replaced by a 10 quid bell push. I refuse to pay 50 quid to answer the door!

Google AI is trash and failed hard didn’t it