Have we fallen out of love with voice assistants?

[Savonarola]

I saw this article in the BEEB and wondered what the Languish experience with voice assistants was:

Have we fallen out of love with voice assistants?

To begin with, Abigail Barnes loved her voice assistant. Now it lives in the drawer.

"I used [my Amazon Alexa] to turn on the lights or set a timer, and as a speaker for books and podcasts," says the 43-year-old Londoner. "She turned my fan on and off during the heatwave and played me Christmas music in the winter."

Ms Barnes would ask her device to set alarms, tell her the time or for the weather forecast.

"I kept my first Alexa in the kitchen and, a few months later, I got a second Alexa and set it up in my bedroom."

However, Ms Barnes fell out of love with her voice assistants when they began giving her frequent delivery notifications, asking her to review purchases or prompting her to reorder items.

"It started giving me random updates or asking me to rate a product I'd bought last month," she says, "which I found really irritating."

She became concerned about conversation data "being stored in a cloud somewhere". Then she found the voice commands became unreliable.

"I stopped asking her to turn off the lights when I went to bed, as I'd ask a number of times and then manually turn them off anyway."

What started out saving her time, she says, quickly became something that cost time.

The Internet of Things (IoT) - the ever-growing network of physical objects connected to the internet - is increasingly becoming embedded in our lives.

There is a wide range of smart devices on the market from light bulbs, ovens and washing machines, to speakers, fitness trackers, toothbrushes and baby changing mats.

Voice assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri, enable users to control IoT devices by voice command.

It is estimated that this year, the number of voice assistants in existence will match the global population - at around eight billion.

However, after several boom years, the big tech companies are making cutbacks, with their voice assistant units in particular trouble.

Amazon is in the process of cutting 18,000 jobs. Of those cuts 2,000 will fall on its devices and services unit, which develops Alexa and smart speakers.

Google also reportedly made the decision to scale back development of its Google Assistant.

Do these mounting losses and job cuts point to the downfall of the voice assistant?

When Alexa launched, Amazon pioneered a new business model. The goal wasn't to make money from selling the devices themselves but for shoppers to make purchases using the voice assistant.

In terms of engagement Amazon's voice assistant has been a success. Amazon says it has more than doubled the number of active Alexa customers over the last three years and Alexa has "billions" of interactions every week.

But it's not clear whether they are money-making opportunities. Reports say most interactions are relatively simple tasks like checking the weather, or playing music.

More broadly, according to one report, over the past three years voice assistant use has been falling and another report suggests that the adoption of smart speakers is slowing.

"Voice assistants have not become as socially sticky as promised," says Helen Jambunathan from consumer insights agency Canvas8.

"A number of factors have fed into this, including concerns about privacy."

According to a 2020 survey, 82% of people are worried about monitoring by phone microphones, laptop webcams and voice assistants.

Reports of Amazon Alexa sending voice recordings to the wrong person and employees listening to private conversations only add to this concern.

In its defence, Amazon says it reviews only a tiny fraction of Alexa requests to help improve the service.

Nevertheless, "voice assistants have never shaken connotations of invasion and intrusion," says Ms Jambunathan. "There have also been several high-profile instances of voice assistants being creepy, racist and giving dangerous advice - further eroding consumer trust."

Add the cost-of-living crisis to this, she continues, and voice assistants have become a luxury item "unable to compete with other aspirational luxury or tech purchases".

However, while voice assistants may be losing their appeal for general use, in healthcare they are on the rise.

When it comes to people with dementia, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), sight problems and mobility challenges, Alexa is "a game changer", says Eric Saarnio, international business lead for Amazon Alexa.

"Smart assistants are evolving - it's early days," he says. "We've come a long way over the past eight years and we're certainly not stopping. What we're doing can change people's lives."

Majesticare provides residential, nursing and dementia care, and is one of the UK's first care groups to introduce Alexa Smart Properties for Senior Living into their homes.

"It's just amazing to walk into a resident's room and know that they are listening to music they have chosen, or catching up on their favourite radio shows," says Angela Boxall, CEO of Majesticare.

Residents are able to connect with family and friends. They can ask for a drink, find out what's on the menu, or ask what activities are planned that day - simply by talking.

"Video calls with loved ones bring peace of mind," says Ms Boxall, "and [the residents have such] wonderful smiles when they see the ones they cherish."

While voice assistants might have found a useful niche in healthcare, their appeal in the broader market may be on the wane.

Abigail Barnes's Alexa won't be seeing daylight again any time soon.

"I do miss her," she says. "I may revisit her, but [if I do] I'll invest time in looking into the notification settings, and reading the terms and conditions."

I used to have an Amazon Alexa, but I had to deactivate it when it refused to open the pod bay doors. 

Actually it never worked very well for me unless I was directly facing it and giving my best Captain Picard impression.  That really started to annoy my wife and it wasn't really useful. 

[Valmy]

My kids love it.

I was never a fan. Granted I was always a little bummed it didn't sound like Mr Carson from Downton Abbey so I may have held that against it.

[Sheilbh]

Never had one - don't have one

[Admiral Yi]

I have used a voice assistant and don't intend to get one.

Went to afties at a chick's house one time and used Alexa to play tunes.  I found it glitchy and balky, always took a couple repetitions to get the song I wanted.

[The Brain]

Never felt a need for one. Plus I'm way too paranoid.

[Jacob]

It's not for me.

[Josquius]

They're too unreliable to be particularly useful. Even putting on a terrible American accent the command failure rate is high enough to be annoying.

I have a Google dot, got it as a freebie, but I generally leave it turned off and plug it in somewhere I want music, like if I'm in the bath or working in the garden. I can get it to play English language bands or basic play lists but if I want to listen to something foreign it's useless.

It is also seeing use as an occasional toy for my son playing animal and vehicle noises.

[DGuller]

Never used one, never intend to use one.  One reason is that I don't trust a big tech company with a device that by design is wiretapping me.  I think their concept of privacy and my concept of privacy are greatly at odds.  Another reason is that I never understood the desire to shoehorn in voice controls into technology.  I think hand inputs are just a far superior method of communicating even when you have a voice option, at least when it comes to speed or precision.

[The Brain]

I think hand inputs are just a far superior method of communicating even when you have a voice option, at least when it comes to speed or precision.

HR may have a different opinion.

[DGuller]

I think hand inputs are just a far superior method of communicating even when you have a voice option, at least when it comes to speed or precision.

HR may have a different opinion.

[Grey Fox]

My family and I use Google assistant daily. I use it to stream radio and YouTube music thru the 2 google speakers I own. I ask her, yeah her, for the news and weather, to set timers and reminders.

I use Google Agenda so it knows all my schedule already.

GA is pretty cool since it can understand Quebec french and English concurrently.


But yeah, we have fallen out of love with them. My speakers are breaking down and there is no good non-screen options anymore.

Also AI is not straightforward to monetize. It's mostly only a different kind of algorithms.

[Zanza]

Never had one.

That said, I do use the voice commands in my car, especially for navigation, to start phone calls or to control the entertainment, as that allows me to keep the eyes on the road.

[Josephus]

I gave Siri on my iphone a female voice with an English accent.
So the only time I really use it is on those cold, lonely, Friday nights.
Otherwise none at all.

[Josquius]

My family and I use Google assistant daily. I use it to stream radio and YouTube music thru the 2 google speakers I own. I ask her, yeah her, for the news and weather, to set timers and reminders.

I use Google Agenda so it knows all my schedule already.

GA is pretty cool since it can understand Quebec french and English concurrently.

Did you need to do a special setup for this?

Mine only seems to know poor English.

[Grey Fox]

My family and I use Google assistant daily. I use it to stream radio and YouTube music thru the 2 google speakers I own. I ask her, yeah her, for the news and weather, to set timers and reminders.

I use Google Agenda so it knows all my schedule already.

GA is pretty cool since it can understand Quebec french and English concurrently.

Did you need to do a special setup for this?

Mine only seems to know poor English.

I've added both languages in the assistant options.

In the Home app, click your face -> Assistant options -> Languages.