Running AI is so expensive that Amazon will probably charge you to use Alexa in future, says outgoing exec - eviltoast
In an interview with Bloomberg, Dave Limp said that he "absolutely" believes that Amazon will soon start charging a subscription fee for Alexa

Running AI is so expensive that Amazon will probably charge you to use Alexa in future, says outgoing exec::In an interview with Bloomberg, Dave Limp said that he “absolutely” believes that Amazon will soon start charging a subscription fee for Alexa

  • arthurpizza@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1272·
    1 year ago

    We need to move AI from the cloud to our own hardware running in our homes. Free, open source, privacy focused hardware. It’ll eventually be very affordable.

    • pyldriver@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      1 year ago

      God I wish, I would just love local voice control to turn my lights and such on and off… but noooooooooooo

        • pyldriver@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I have home assistant, but have not heard anything good about rhasspy. Just want to control lights and be able to use it to play music and set timers. That being said I run home assistant right now and can control it with Alexa and Siri but… I would like local only

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
        12·
        1 year ago

        I have that with just my phone, using Wiz lights and ITEEE. It’s the only home automation I even have because it’s the only one I found that doesn’t necessarily need a special base station like an Alexa or Google Home.

        • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
          31·
          1 year ago

          But you want a local base station, else there’s no local control. You want to use local-only networks like z-wave, zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth, etc, even though they require a base station because that’s what gives you a local-only way of controlling things.

          Matter promises a base station may no longer be necessary for smart devices to control each other, but it is rolling out very slowly

          I also wonder what I’ll be able to do with the Thread radio in the iPhone 15 Pro

          • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
            12·
            1 year ago

            The base stations are what uses the cloud/AI shit. The setup I have doesn’t even require an Internet connection or wifi; it’s entirely bluetooth. Why in the hell would I want a base station that costs money, is controlled by Amazon or Google, and requires an Internet connection for my local shit?

            I don’t want a piece of hardware that does nothing but act like a fucking middleman for no good reason.

            • foggenbooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              That is not necessarily true. Some base stations use the internet, yes, but not all. For example a Philips hue does not require internet access, nor does Lutron Caseta. As the other person posted, Home Assistant is the absolute best (IMO) way to do everything locally without the internet.

              Your system, while it might work for you, does not scale well due to the limited range and reliability of Bluetooth. You’d likely be better off to adopt a more robust protocol like Z-wave, or ZigBee and get a hub that you have full control over.

    • a1studmuffin@aussie.zoneEnglish
      12·
      1 year ago

      It’s the year of the voice for Home Assistant. Given their current trajectory, I’m hopeful they’ll have a pretty darn good replacement for the most common use cases of Google Home/Alexa/Siri in another year. Setting timers, shopping list management, music streaming, doorbell/intercom management. If you’re on the fence about a Nabu Casa subscription, pull the trigger as it helps them stay independent and not get bought out or destroyed by commercial interests.

      • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        Thumbs up for Nabu Casa and Home Assistant!

        I haven’t yet played with the local voice stuff but have been following it with interest. Actually, now that Taspberry Piis are starting to become available again, I’m on the fence between buying a few more, vs finding something with a little more power, specifically for voice processing

        • foggenbooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Get something with a little more power. Pi’s are reaching outside the price where they make sense these days. You can get an Intel N100 system on AliExpress/Amazon for pretty cheap now and I’ve got mine running ProxMox hosting all kinds of stuff.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      I do wonder how much of those voice assistants could run on-device. Most of what I use Bixby for (I know. I KNOW.) is setting timers. I think simple things like that can run entirely on the phone. It’s got a shocking amount of processing in it.

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      While you may have points against Apple and how effective Siri may be, with this latest version kind of products, even the watch has enough processing power to do voice processing on device. No ads. No cloud services

      • whofearsthenight@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Pretty much. If you want a voice assistant right now, Siri is probably the best in terms of privacy. I bought a bunch of echos early, then they got a little shitty but I was in, and now I just want them out of my house except for one thing - music. Spotify integration makes for easy multi-room audio in a way that doesn’t really work as well on the other platform that I’ll consider (Apple/Siri) and basically adds sonos-like functionality for a tiny fraction of the price. The Siri balls and airplay are just not as good, and of course, don’t work as well with Spotify.

        But alexa is so fucking annoying that at this point I mostly just carry my phone (iPhone) and talk to that even though it’s a little less convenient because I’m really goddamned tired of hearing “by the way…”