The Exchanges

Q smart ideas based on the context that Amazon has? For instance, um, I would say, you know, do I need to order any birthday gifts? And it would then go out, go out and say, well, look on your calendar, there are, you know, five birthdays coming up, these are the dates, and these are our suggestions. So is it gonna, is it, because that's, I think, a step further.

A I think you're stepping in, you're stepping, you said you want to talk a little bit about the future, and how proactive Alexa can be. Like, there's a balance. One, we think Alexa can be incredibly proactive. Like, to the point of when you wake up in the morning, you walk into the kitchen, it's like, Alex, you didn't sleep well. You know? And then you can imagine integration with some partners that is like, okay, let's have the conversation. Um, also say, hey, your day looks pretty packed today. You should probably find some time. That proactivity is there. It's in the system. We're using it in a very different way. We don't want to be intrusive with it. We got to learn from our customers first. Like how much proactivity do you want? I think it's very, very important to, you know, you don't want to jump to that future. You, you got to be right. So yeah, it's a good example. I'll wake up in the morning and If I need to buy a birthday gift, can you just remind me? We can create reminders. We can create a conversational piece, but I don't think a lot of people want Alexa just to wake up and start talking to you.

AI assessment note: “That proactivity is there. It's in the system. We're using it in a very different way.”

Q So what jobs do the wearables do? What jobs do the wearables do?

A Um, I teed you up for that one, so I brought that onto myself. Uh, you know, I think important, like listening at the right time, watching at the right time, or looking, or taking pictures, um, maybe taking senses off your body. Like yesterday, we announced an integration with Aura for wellness, and you're wearing the wearable. You get back home, you ask Alexa, you know, how much, how many steps did I have today? Can you just help me think about it? Or, um, do you think I'm on pace? And, And you can tell Alexa, this is a good example. I could just stay in the present, where let's use Aura. There's a wearable on my finger. I get home. Um, Aura understands my bedtime rhythms and lets Alexa know, and Alexa basically says, hey, P, it's time for bed, or don't forget. I'm going to set a reminder for you every night when you're 30 minutes away from your bedtime, and I'll just announce it for you so you're aware. I think that's a job that gets simpler. It's, you don't need a phone with you. You don't need anything. You just, you have your AI assistant tell you at the right time. I think it's an example of like, what is it that you want to share? Um, so then your products can come together and then ultimately your assistant can, um, deliver the information so you can make your, you know, be informed and make the right decision.

AI assessment note: “listening at the right time, watching at the right time, or looking, or taking pictures”

Q Um, and I read that at least as everybody was going to get it in a month, not a small section of, of people. And Has, was there a difficulty in getting the technology to work that led to that delay? Or was it you saying we just need to test a little bit more? What happened?

A Well, it, the way what we had done and we had asked for if you wanted to get it, you know, email me when ready type of thing, like create a list and we're going to give access to customers as they go. Um, And then as the product continued to develop and finish, it was then rolling it out slowly to make sure, because you have to learn that all environments are so different, and so the whole concept and construct was learn as we release, and so we had basically tranches of customers that you release to that were on this list, and we got it to everybody who's asked for it at that point. And then that list continued to grow and then we continued to release it, but it really was about, yeah, making sure the product was refined to a point that when we did put it in people's homes, that they were both excited about it, but then can use it for everything that they're already using it for. There's some nuance on how you would use it and you're kind of learning to use the new Alexa, not complicated, just nuanced. Um, and so it was just a little bit more methodical. Um, I would say, uh, we rolled it out as we intended, but also it, it did feel a little bit slower than I think what people expected. So maybe it was about, um, how to balance the expectation versus what we delivered.

AI assessment note: “the whole concept and construct was learn as we release”

Q any service in, but like if people are like on, uh, an Android and they're summoning a Google assistant, uh, whatever the name is that week, or they're on, uh, an iPhone and they're summoning Apple Intelligence or Siri. Um, where does Alexa fit in on that? Like, is, are you gonna have to look at deeper integrations with these phone makers? Will they even allow you to do that?

A I think people use different assistants. I don't think there's any question about it. I don't think there's one. Although, if you lean into Alexa, we have the Alexa app on the phone, and with one touch of the button on your iPhone, you're having the same conversation. You're actually carrying the conversation from your home to your phone, to your car, to your PC with Alexa.com. We thought that through because we needed that thread for sure. So, you know, as she becomes more personal to you and then, you know, more needed, you want to have her with you everywhere. That, that app is doing a crazy cool job right now. And we haven't released the new Alexa app yet. It's coming with, if you get Alexa Plus, you get the Alexa app, the Alexa Plus app, as well as Alexa.com. Alexa.com, right?

AI assessment note: “if you lean into Alexa, we have the Alexa app on the phone”

Q things like maybe smart glasses, as we have things like, uh, contextually, or maybe even smart headphones. Uh, even we have, uh, AirPods with Siri in them today, but we have, there's echo earbuds. Um, so what does the future of the device look like to you when we get past these early days of the AI assistant and into where you really want to see the vision play out?

A Uh, first you focus on the devices that are available to you now, for me. Because what we're building and releasing right now are probably, I think, the right and best devices for kind of ambient AI or, uh, AI around your house. Just that contextual awareness that's possible, whether it's your, the Ring cameras or the Echo devices. I think you know this, but here's my plug, you know, we just launched our Ring for K line, which I'm very pumped about, and we've, and we launched four new Echo devices, some new Fire TV devices, Kindle, Blink, but the, but the energy, I think you, you start there. Like, great devices in the home, I think are critical to the, to the vision for, you know, if you're going to be connected to your assistant, and, um, that's, I think that's the promise in what we're delivering this holiday, for sure. I think the, the way to answer your question, different, um, outside of now, because, you know, it's, you never want to talk about, here's what the future of the device is, when you're.

AI assessment note: “first you focus on the devices that are available to you now, for me”

Q And then when do you decide to flip it and make it AI mode? And I think it's very interesting to see all these companies going through this moment of when is it time to flip that switch to generative AI? Because like you mentioned, you mentioned when we spoke last, a startup can do it quicker because they don't have to worry about their current customers.

A Yeah. And I think you can, it doesn't mean they build it quicker. It just, they don't, You know, you start from zero and you build up, you know, versus starting from hundreds of millions and, and handing it over. I think that's just reality. That, but it doesn't mean we're not fast or not, that's where I, I take exception to like when I hear it. It's good to hear your perspective on this. Like, what's taking you so long? Like, wait, hold on. Like, there's not, there's no other agent out there or kind of assistant that's, um, using, you know, Tens and tens, 7000, I won't give you the amount of experts, but those experts also, all of them looking across, calling hundreds and hundreds of APIs and being able to serve. There's no other expert out there that I can send, uh, my daughters, you know, she's 15, man, she's amazing, and she's, um, she's trying, she's learning, she's playing on the golf team at school, which is kind of a weird, like, she's just, and I just wanted to see, like, I want to get to a match. And so she sent me a picture of, uh, Her schedule. It was a picture, you know. I'm just like, can you come? Um, and I'm like, yep. So I take, I take the picture. I just share it with Alexa. All right. In that moment, uh, Alexa sends me a notification. I open the app. The app says, do you want me to download everything here? Or do you want me to add everything to your calendar…

AI assessment note: “starting from hundreds of millions and, and handing it over. I think that's just reality.”