All Ears

AI image

Late yesterday, I had a notification on my Alexa Echo Dot, but there wasn't anything said. Then I received a message to check my Alexa app on my cellphone.

Alexa has updated to the new Alexa+, which is Amazon's version of interactive AI.

My Alexa stuff is old - 1st and 2nd generation - and I thought it wasn't going to be able to use the new AI so I hadn't given it much thought.

But no, there it is. New voice, new sound, new stuff. Plus, I lost the six-year development of a favorite playlist. I lost a lot of good songs.

This was not something I asked for, to have Alexa updated. I thought it would miss me and I'd decided some time ago that as the Echo dots fail, I won't replace them. I still have my old iPod or I could use Apple Music for songs, but for now, I don't know what to do.

It feels intrusive and a little scary. 

Before, to make Alexa work, I had to same her name for every sentence. Now she hangs out and listens after you say her name. Her blue light stays on for about 8 seconds. That's enough time for someone to walk in and say something that you might not want bouncing around in the cloud. Or wherever this stuff goes.

Earlier, I asked Alexa what she can do now, and she said she could "help" me be creative. So, we - mostly she - wrote a fantasy story. I told her the character names and a basic plot, and boom. She created a story. Every now and then she'd read a point and say, "What happens now?" and I'd make a suggestion, and off she'd go.

That is not writing. I wouldn't even call it creating. At the moment, I don't know how to access it again, or if I even can, and I'm glad of that.

Eventually I'm assuming there will be a charge for this, at which point these things will be unplugged unless there is some limited use allowed without extra cost.

Maybe I should just go back to listening to the radio.