Open Menu
AllLocalCommunitiesAbout
lotide
AllLocalCommunitiesAbout
Login

Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations

⁨405⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tonytins@pawb.social⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/amazon-is-considering-shoving-ads-into-alexa-conversations/

source

Comments

Sort:hotnewtop
  • jordanlund@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Easy fix:

    Image

    source
    • Sineljora@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Follow-up fix: get home assistant and recreate this yourself with a $15 device

      esphome.io/projects/index.html

      source
      • jordanlund@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        I started making my own several years ago but got sidelined by health issues and haven’t gone back to it. :(

        My end goal is I have a lot of comic books. I want a voice assistant that can query a database and then turn on smart lights to show box locations.

        I got the database done, I got the queries working, then had a heart attack and never got the voice input or smart light output working. :(

        Image

        Image

        source
        • -> View More Comments
      • Reverendender@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Can I replace AppleHome with this stuff?

        source
        • -> View More Comments
      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        If you can find a hass replacement for the Echo Flex, I will name my firstborn after you.

        source
        • -> View More Comments
  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Now I’m going to refuse to purchase one even harder!

    source
    • tdawg@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I honestly forgot people even buy these

      source
    • Jaded99@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I was saving up for one. Nvm lol

      source
    • dan1101@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Not only that, I wouldn’t even use one if they paid me. How did they convince people to pay to be spied on and advertised to?

      source
  • db2@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    What the fuck is Alexa+ 🤣🤣🤣

    source
    • Luffy879@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      After AI became a thing, Amazon decided you needed to pay a subscribtion to use Alexa with an LLM instead of the basic keyword recognition model

      source
      • frunch@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Sounds like another case of Amazon trying to out-Amazon itself

        source
      • weew@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Well someone’s gotta pay for that small country’s worth of wasted electricity

        source
  • MisterMoo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Their users will accept this.

    source
    • tomkatt@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Not this one. I’ve been a Prime member for many years out of convenience (and because I live in the rurals and need to ship a lot of things to the house). Amazon completely fucked it up for themselves with regard to my subscription this past year or two, I’m done.

      • Removed the ability to download and sideload Kindle books
      • Ads in Prime Video
      • Followed by even more ads in Prime Video
      • Now this, and I don’t even own an Alexa device

      I’m done. Subscription is cancelled. Video was already trashed, but I barely used it. Now though… I’ve jailbroken the Kindles, converted all my books to EPUB, and installed KOReader. Wasn’t a hard transition since I’ve had a Boox device as my main reader for some years now anyway. I’ve started buying my books from Kobo and other sources.

      Looking into other services for online purchases and shipping. It’ll be less convenient, and I’ll still buy from Amazon in the event I have to, but I’d like to minimize that now.

      source
      • Fredselfish@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        How do you jailbreak your Kindle?

        source
        • -> View More Comments
      • MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        I have a prime subscription, simply for the delivery and grocery discounts, but the ads on their streaming service have convinced me to stop using it entirely and just pirate all their shows / movies.

        source
        • -> View More Comments
      • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Never had issues sideloading epubs with Calibre on my PW.

        source
        • -> View More Comments
  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Alexa already periodically makes “suggestions” that are annoying to disable if you misspeak.

    Counting down until it starts demanding credit cards in order to function. Maybe as a form of “identity check”, as that’s been a popular excuse to collect payment information.

    source
    • msprout@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Pretty much why we unplugged all of ours. I just need to set a timer, don’t tell me extra shit!

      source
    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      To disable suggestions:

      “Alexa, stop By The Way”

      source
  • lustyargonian@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Like always, Black Mirror has an episode on this.

    source
    • iglou@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Isn’t Black Mirror a manual at this point?

      source
      • Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Or a documentary.

        source
    • luipaard0011@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      S## and E##?

      source
  • Treczoks@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Make the bad even worse. Is there a word for this?

    source
    • andMoonsValue@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Enshitification

      source
  • ThunderLegend@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I bought an Alexa echo long before I actually cared about privacy and I regret it a lot. It’s been a pricey paper weight since then. I wish I could flash some kind of OS and use it as a sound bar or something. I can’t even use the Bluetooth without signing in with amazon account, which requires a lot of data including phone number.

    source
    • Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Do you have a shotgun? Makes a respectable flying target.

      source
      • Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Once….which is probably the point.

        source
  • Shortstack@reddthat.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I’m pretty sure Amazon got this idea from Black Mirror’s latest season

    source
  • SoupBrick@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    *Amazon testing public backlash before shoving ads into your conversations with Alexa

    FTFY

    source
    • socialsecurity@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Calling out Companies is not beneficial to the "Journalists"

      source
  • shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Got 8 Google Minis around the house, mostly ceiling mount. First ad that comes out that bitches mouth, I’m taking a 12-gauge to every motherfucking one of them, patch the roof later.

    source
    • MyRobotShitsBolts@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      You sir, and I say this with no hyperbole; are a hero.

      source
      • shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        🎵I got a shotgun, and here’s the plot,

        Takin’ Minis out with a flurry of buck shot,

        Boom, boom, boom! Yeah, I was gunnin’,

        And then you look, all you see is Googles runnin’,

        And fallin’ and yellin’ and pushin’ and screamin’,

        And cussin’, I stepped back and I kept bustin’🎶

        source
        • -> View More Comments
    • rainwall@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Im sure they'll try to get you to order ammo as they explode.

      source
      • shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        <pump-action sound>

        “How’s your supply of shells? Winchester is having a blowout sale on 00-buck. To learn more…”

        source
    • tal@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      First ad that comes out that bitches mouth, I’m taking a 12-gauge to every motherfucking one of them, patch the roof later.

      “Further work from our user experience team has resulted in several recommendations, including revising the Google Mini for the North American market to add a Kevlar layer to the case and using data from the accelerometer to treat an abrupt, rapid acceleration with a threshold above a certain level as “undesirable behavior/behavior needs improvement” user feedback to Alexa+'s prior prompt response.”

      source
  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Alexa has ads since the beginning and I can’t imagine that would change just because they are replacing the backend with AI. The first time Echo wasted my time trying to selling me something in my own home was also the last time. I don’t understand how anyone can be okay with that.

    source
    • possumparty@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Fuck, the Echo Show series is basically just a glorified ad machine with a clock feature.

      source
  • stellargmite@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I’m amazed it didn’t already as someone who has never used or heard one being used. What’s the business model? Just the data harvesting for purpose of their other businesses?

    source
  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Duh. This is the AI wet dream. Ads won’t have discrete patterns that can be filtered. The LLM will deliver content specific garbage as if it were a genuine answer to a query. It will just bias towards ads and deliver the ad Ina different personalized manner each time. For as much as everyone likes to bitch about AI. This may be the golden age. It probably just gets worse from here.

    source
    • takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Musk on the other hand already experiments on adding ideology and use such bots (makes as regular users) on social media.

      source
  • CAWright@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    “brought to you by Carls Jr.”

    source
    • PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Fuck you! I’m eating!!

      source
  • Etterra@discuss.online ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    As if I was ever stupid enough to use Alexa.

    source
  • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    It won’t be long until the LLMs are trained with for ad-RAG

    While each conversation happens a second model will scan it, send the contents to a vector search, return as embedding and a score, then give those outputs silently to the conversing model.

    You do need to train/fine tune the model to not mention that it received the ad and subtly push it.

    source
    • panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Actually, now that I think about it, you don’t even need to tell the model about the ad, you just weight some of the input tokens with the ad embedding and it naturally biases towards talking about that brand.

      source
  • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Anyone see the newest Black Mirror season?

    en.wikipedia.org/…/Common_People_(Black_Mirror)

    source
    • Frozengyro@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I didn’t realize they were still producing episodes. Are they as good as S1-3?

      source
      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Some of them are, but a few others feel like rehashing old themes without adding much. Still mostly worth watching imo

        source
    • DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Fuck I was just thinking about “common people” when I saw this. Definitely the best episode of that season

      source
    • Mediocre_Bard@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      That one was hard to watch. It just kept getting worse and worse.

      source
  • Bristlecone@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I can’t even stand when my Google assistant says more than three words to respond 😂 if I start hearing ads out of that thing I will get rid of it faster than anything I’ve ever done

    source
  • fan0m@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Now introducing Alexa Luxe

    source
    • oxysis@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Now introducing Alexa Luxe + Pro Max Premium

      source
  • Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    You’re still using Alexa? Unplugged our listening er pod device about a week after we got it.

    source
    • takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Same, I got Alexa (the first one with a good speaker) when attended a sales event of another company. I set it up, but after seeing its network activity even when no one was home I shut it down and didn’t use it again.

      I don’t understand why people don’t feel weirded out by having an always on listening device.

      source
      • Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Yup, scares the heck out of me. Guess other don’t agree. I am getting downvoted.

        source
        • -> View More Comments
    • tonytins@pawb.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Just the messenger, dude.

      source
  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I’m sorry, people still have or use these things?

    Who is this stupid or lazy?

    source
  • roserose56@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    And yet people will buy it, like they did with Nintendo switch 2! See you when it really happens.

    source
  • Steve@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They already do…

    source
  • Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Good, make it as terrible as possible.

    source
  • iveseenthat@reddthat.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    So, South park?

    source
  • Hadriscus@jlai.lu ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    All natural cocoa beans from the upper slopes of mount Nicaragua !

    source
  • CocaineShrimp@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They’re already making suggestions. Got one this morning telling me I can ask it for updates on Amazon packages.

    Speaking of which, anyone have any suggestions for better smart speakers?

    source
    • ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I’m not really a smart speaker kind of guy but HomePods are nice, sound quality is pretty good

      source
      • Reverendender@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Mine isn’t. Do you use the full size, or the mini?

        source
        • -> View More Comments