5,000 People Are Working On Amazon's Digital Assistant Alexa (geekwire.com)

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5,000 People Are Working On Amazon's Digital Assistant Alexa (geekwire.com)

Posted by msmash on Thursday September 28, 2017 @03:20AM from the big-bet dept.

Amazon said this week at an event unveiling the next generation Echo device that it has the equivalent of a small town of people -- more than 5,000 -- working on the company's digital assistant, Alexa. From a report: And Amazon's not even at full capacity when it comes to Alexa. The company's job site shows close to 1,100 open positions on a variety of Alexa-focused teams. Voice-activated assistants appear to be the Next Big Thing in the tech world, and Amazon is competing with a who's who of tech giants, including Apple, Microsoft, Google and more. Interestingly, Amazon and Microsoft recently formed a pact that will see the two company's digital assistants gain the ability to talk to one another.

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Hey you Russophobe IDIOT BeauHD! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:22 · Score: 0

Come on? Where are this hour's anti-Russian stories?

Another one to counter your weird FUD that you can NEVER BACK UP.
1. Re:Hey you Russophobe IDIOT BeauHD! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:39 · Score: 0
  
  Hay man, thats not cool. U and me both know deep down 'N our hearts the Russians literally grabbed votes from Trump and stuffed em in Hillarys ballot box. Not cool man.
  
  -=]xBeaux[=-
Standardization ... by CaptainDork · 2017-09-28 03:23 · Score: 1

... across hardware and software.
It was bound to happen.

--
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
And yet by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:30 · Score: 0

Still no reason to buy one.
1. Re: And yet by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:55 · Score: 0
  
  Except to spy on mentally retarded libturds.
2. Re: And yet by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 04:04 · Score: 0
  
  There are plenty of people, and plenty of reasons, to get Alexa.
  This guy has a great reason. But, funny thing, his not disabled brother also bought one a short while later. Both these guys regularly beat me at Jeopardy so the "retard" insult is obviously inappropriate.
3. Re: And yet by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 06:56 · Score: 0
  
  Except to spy on mentally retarded libturds.
  ...who, unlike you, actually have disposable income and do not live in their mother's basement working to grow a viable neckbeard on that third chin.
So Stupid by kamapuaa · 2017-09-28 03:36 · Score: 0

I think we can all agree...anybody who owns a device with both a microphone and some kind of internet connection is a total idiot!

--
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
1. Re:So Stupid by JohnFen · 2017-09-28 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  You just described almost every laptop in existence.
2. Re:So Stupid by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:42 · Score: 0
  
  Strong words. All that's needed to make anyone an idiot is a microphone and an internet connection?
  - Phone? Check
  - Tablet? Check
  - Laptop? Check
  - PC? Check
  Tell me, what did you use to post this? Or are you also including yourself in the name-calling?
3. Re:So Stupid by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:44 · Score: 0
  
  Cant say I'm keen on having something thats always listening. Right up there with "home security systems" with cameras in your house, that a viewable on your smartphone, that video must be passing through a cloud somewhere. yikes!
  However, there is one voice command thing I like, and thats the Comcast Xfinity X1 voice remote, which only listens when you hold the button down to say something to it. Because its not thing to be "all things", its very good at what it does do.
4. Re:So Stupid by DontBeAMoran · 2017-09-28 03:49 · Score: 1
  
  Laptops, tablets and phones? Sure.
  PCs? Only a few of them.
  You also forgot smart TVs.
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
5. Re:So Stupid by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:52 · Score: 0
  
  The point still stands.
6. Re:So Stupid by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  You just described almost every laptop in existence.
  And all the phones and tablets. And the All In One PCs. Frankly, just about anything but a whitebox PC that you do not have a microphone on...
7. Re:So Stupid by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 04:00 · Score: 1
  
  PCs? Only a few of them.
  Not anymore. Any All in One will have them, and many major brands have basic speaker and mic built in.
8. Re:So Stupid by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 04:04 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Unless you actually look at it. I sniffed the wire on Alexa. Once a day there is a small packet exchange. Occasionally that small packet exchange will result in a moderately large download. I am assuming checking for updates and occasionally updating. Other then that, it NEVER initiates traffic without the alert keyword (Alexa by default), and every time it does, it is accompanied by the devices saying something, and what it "heard" is saved in the app for you to look at. I can not say it will always be this way, as it self updates, nor can I say that "deleting" the recordings actually deletes anything other then your list...
  
  But from my personal testing, it seems to be playing very fair right now.
9. Re:So Stupid by DontBeAMoran · 2017-09-28 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  We're not thinking about the same kind of PCs, then. Sure, it applies to iMacs and similar, but I'm thinking about classic "tower-type" PCs. The only built-in speaker will be the internal PC speaker that can go "beep!" or "boop!" but nothing else. No microphones of any kind.
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
10. Re:So Stupid by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  All the new business class HP desktop have speakers built in, and some of them have microphones.
11. Re:So Stupid by The+Good+Reverend · 2017-09-28 05:17 · Score: 1
  
  It's "always listening" for the trigger word. It doesn't record, transmit, or otherwise log the rest of the time that you're not talking directly to Alexa.
  My home security cameras don't transmit or store images/video anywhere unless I'm looking at them (on my devices). Otherwise they're on and one does motion detection, but nothing is stored in the cloud anywhere.
12. Re:So Stupid by Arashi256 · 2017-09-28 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  Got a smartphone? Because I'm betting you do.
13. Re:So Stupid by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 05:41 · Score: 0
  
  Any All in One will have them, and many major brands have basic speaker and mic built in.
  So in other words, the kinds that we don't buy.
  It would never even occur to me to buy a microphone for my desktop. When would I ever use it?
14. Re:So Stupid by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 08:52 · Score: 0
  
  I think we can all agree...anybody who owns a device with both a microphone and some kind of internet connection is a total idiot!
  Did you write that from your cell phone by chance?
15. Re:So Stupid by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 09:21 · Score: 1
  
  Any All in One will have them, and many major brands have basic speaker and mic built in.
  So in other words, the kinds that we don't buy.
  But a lot of businesses love them. With WiFi for network and a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, there is only one wire for the entire PC. Much cleaner.
16. Re:So Stupid by hackwrench · 2017-09-28 09:27 · Score: 1
  
  A piezoelectric speaker that only beeps can be made a microphone. Everything resonates with everything else. Even the POTS ties in with the internet at some point and pay phones are too few and far between. But at least, "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up," will always be heard.
is this post brought to us by amazon? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:37 · Score: 0

was it free because they unfucked your aws migration
this webzone was down for 82 hours because you cant do prel in the cloud
Voice activated assistants are the... by zerofoo · 2017-09-28 03:38 · Score: 3, Interesting

...TV 3D glasses of the computing world.
All of them suck - Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant - all are worthless in somewhat noisy environments.
Got kids living at home? Drive a car with the windows cracked open or even the AC running? Forget about using any of them.
I do admit - I love watching people ask their phones and speakers something 3 or 4 times before getting frustrated and picking up a handheld device. It's comical.
1. Re:Voice activated assistants are the... by PopeRatzo · 2017-09-28 03:55 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I do admit - I love watching people ask their phones and speakers something 3 or 4 times before getting frustrated and picking up a handheld device.
  My wife has to ask me to take out the garbage 3 or 4 times before getting frustrated and picking up a handheld device (frying pan).
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
2. Re:Voice activated assistants are the... by MightyYar · 2017-09-28 04:03 · Score: 1
  
  The only thing I've seen them do well is entertain at parties. Guests have fun screwing with it, playing music, ordering 5 cases of toilet paper - that sort of thing. But yeah, at this point mostly a toy. It would be kind of cool to, using scripting kung-fu, have it turn off all the lights in the house, but you can already do this with a physical switch by the door and a bit of scripting kung-fu so any improvement is fairly marginal. But if you like to dick with toys, then it provides some entertainment value in that department.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
3. Re:Voice activated assistants are the... by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 04:06 · Score: 1
  
  I don't seem to have this problem with Alexa. Google Maps on Android can be frustrating, but Alexa gets it right almost all the time.
4. Re:Voice activated assistants are the... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 05:33 · Score: 0
  
  I have no use for any voice-activated crap.
5. Re:Voice activated assistants are the... by ILoveFatCashews · 2017-09-28 06:18 · Score: 0, Funny
  
  My wife has to ask me to take out the garbage 3 or 4 times before getting frustrated and picking up a handheld device (frying pan).
  That's nothing. My mother's handheld device was empty beer bottles. I had to take out the garbage and the recyclables.
6. Re:Voice activated assistants are the... by outlander · 2017-09-28 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  There are people who are disabled - CP, Parkinson's, the like - for whom voice-enabled applications are a boon.
  It's not the applications which are problematical; it's the bad actors who define use cases which are explicitly designed to undermine privacy in the interests of either security or sales that make us suspicioua of the tech.
  I think a future with voice rec is probably better than one without, but with caveats that the technology needs to be controlled, or at least, the results not admissible in court and the use of which automatically will automatically cause a case to be dismissed.
  
  --
  "Truth is what works" -- William James "It works!!" -- o-dark-AM comment
Good by JohnFen · 2017-09-28 03:41 · Score: 2

The more engineers working on nonsense like that, the more opportunities there are for the rest of us.
1. Re:Good by DontBeAMoran · 2017-09-28 03:50 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah! Opportunities like working on a team of 5000 engineers at another company's voice assistant!
  
  --
  #DeleteFacebook
2. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 04:08 · Score: 0
  
  No, the point was the more "engineer" wannabes are occupied by a bullshit, the more opportunities emerge for the rest of us.
3. Re:Good by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 04:08 · Score: 1
  
  The more engineers working on nonsense like that, the more opportunities there are for the rest of us.
  Nonsense? How many people want to live in the Star Trek universe? Doors that just open for you, but not just anyone. Lights, music, TV and food just by asking aloud. They can not do the doors and food yet, but lights TV and Music work!
4. Re:Good by FatdogHaiku · 2017-09-28 04:49 · Score: 1
  
  I didn't see a reference to engineers in the summary.
  It could be that they are the stuff of Raj's nightmares...
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-SVvtxHJGU
  
  --
  You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
5. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 08:03 · Score: 0
  
  what doors. Have you seen doors in a generic apartment unit? Fucking piece of shit, just like the walls. And it is getting worse.
6. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 09:03 · Score: 0
  
  Posting as an AC (from an open wifi network) for obvious reasons.
  'Alexa' as consumers know it is just the tip of the iceberg. Alexa is not simply a competitor to Siri, Google or Cortona. In Amazon speak, 'Alexa' refers to a much larger umbrella that includes machine learning (think Kiva Systems), R&D for AI, logistics... and integrating all of those learnings with big data (think AWS). Amazon is dumping far more resources into Alexa than they let on. This number of 5,000 employees being focused on Alexa sounds like a large number, but it is a huge understatement when you take all of these areas into consideration. Each area has large teams of developers, and whether they realize it or not they are ultimately all working together towards a common goal.
  Based off Amazon's hardware infrastructure spending and the length of time they have been at this (what they have been spending with my employer (the leader in this area) vs. what other companies in this arena have spent), Amazon is the leader by a WIDE margin. Even if you include those who use our competitors for infrastructure, Amazon is investing multiples of all the other major players *combined*. They are even buying stuff up using shell companies in an attempt to mask their spending.
  Jeff Bezos has known for a long time that whoever leads in this area will not only print money, but more importantly hold the power to shape the future. Amazon.com's success was never the goal, it just serves as the financial engine to make all this happen.
7. Re:Good by houstonbofh · 2017-09-28 09:23 · Score: 1
  
  what doors. Have you seen doors in a generic apartment unit? Fucking piece of shit, just like the walls. And it is getting worse.
  Not in several years... Get a job and cut your hair^h^h^h^hbeard ya damn hippy^h^hster! ;)
8. Re: Good by sound+vision · 2017-09-29 01:01 · Score: 1
  
  I could really do without all that. Sitting on the couch all day asking a robot to bring me everything sounds rather dull and sedentary. (I realize a lot of slashdotters do this already, with Mom not a robot... But it's not for me.) I only hit the light switch maybe 2 or 3 times a day, and it takes about 5 seconds to walk across the room and do it. I doubt Alexa could do it faster, or get the circulation in my legs moving properly, like getting up every once in a while does. Maybe the self-flipping light switch is useful to someone with a house too big to walk through, but... It ain't me... It ain't me!
"Working on" by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 03:49 · Score: 0

I bet they're answering every question manually. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
The project must be late... by bobbied · 2017-09-28 04:00 · Score: 3, Interesting

Let's throw more developers at it! (management)
Seriously? 5,000 on staff for that thing? Something is seriously wrong here because I cannot imagine needing that many people for a project like this. What are all these folks doing? Certainly not just Alexa system development. What else are they doing?

--
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
1. Re:The project must be late... by Gilgaron · 2017-09-28 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  I can only assume they think the technology will be cross applicable to other projects on their wish list. Probably some sort of AI or pseudo-AI to take it from a toy to being Jarvis from Iron Man, except he mostly tries to solve your problems by buying things from Amazon.
2. Re:The project must be late... by forkfail · 2017-09-28 04:49 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe they're trying to make assistants to program the assistants.
  
  --
  Check your premises.
3. Re:The project must be late... by bobbied · 2017-09-28 05:29 · Score: 1
  
  Sure, Got to make a profit on those 5,000 salaries.... That means selling stuff and services....
  Still, it's got to be more than Alexa as a sales portal... ("Alexa, Please get me some TP, I'm stuck here until you do!") .... They have got to be planning some kind of value added service or something... My question is What?
  
  --
  "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
4. Re:The project must be late... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 05:46 · Score: 0
  
  There was a news article that Amazon Alexa is supposed to help out in the Amazon Helpdesk at the end of the year. I personally believe that Helpdesk as a service will soon follow meaning big $$$ for amazon.
5. Re:The project must be late... by Gilgaron · 2017-09-28 06:00 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Well, Amazon runs cloud services for pretty much everything. So, if they treat the voice activated digital assistant as a sort of OS (I guess like the movie Her?) that can hop into the cloud and take care of your banking that is being run off of their servers already, then Chase (supports Alexa banking!) gets a leg up on Citi (didn't pay for the license, but switch to Chase and get a free month of Amazon Prime!) or whatever and Amazon gets a slice of everything else you do online that isn't direct e-commerce. They probably see being the dominant voice assistant as being the next search engine/OS wars of decades prior. And, sure, if you can really talk to the thing like a person you'll probably develop an irrational emotional attachment to it and then they've got customer lock in. So that puts them into as dominant a position as MS used to have and Google has in terms of platform, while also being the company you buy your mail order groceries from.
6. Re:The project must be late... by cascadingstylesheet · 2017-09-28 06:20 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Seriously? 5,000 on staff for that thing? Something is seriously wrong here because I cannot imagine needing that many people for a project like this. What are all these folks doing? Certainly not just Alexa system development. What else are they doing?
  What are they doing? Must be Alexa is really a Mechanical Turk!
  Every time you say "Alexa, ..." one of those 5000 people jumps to attention and handles your request :)
7. Re:The project must be late... by d0rp · 2017-09-28 06:44 · Score: 1
  
  Let's throw more developers at it! (management)
  Seriously? 5,000 on staff for that thing? Something is seriously wrong here because I cannot imagine needing that many people for a project like this. What are all these folks doing? Certainly not just Alexa system development. What else are they doing?
  I imagine that number includes the people working on all of those new hardware devices that they just announced yesterday, as well as all the QA, marketing, management and other support staff. Plus all the related stuff, like ensuring that the "smart hub" built into the new Echo Pro actually works with the 3rd party devices (i.e. lights, switches, plugs, thermostats, etc) and all the people that are adding the new "skills" to Alexa on a constant basis (well, at least the non-3rd party skills)
8. Re:The project must be late... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 06:44 · Score: 0
  
  Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age
  Just turn it into a 'ractive and hire those programmers to answer the user's questions directly.
FURBY by Zorro · 2017-09-28 04:24 · Score: 1

So when is the Furby going to be resurrected as a digital assistant? How about Teddyruxpin?
1. Re:FURBY by d0rp · 2017-09-28 06:49 · Score: 1
  
  It already exists (well, not the furby specifically): https://www.amazon.com/CogniTo...
And don't forget South Park... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 04:24 · Score: 0

They have a team working so that Cartman can add unspeakables to your shopping list.
That, and... by leretard · 2017-09-28 04:34 · Score: 1

A billion apes with keyboards are translating the western canon into txt-speak
From the Tao of Computer Programming... by rgbatduke · 2017-09-28 04:35 · Score: 1

3.4
A manager went to the master programmer and showed him the requirements document for a new application. The manager asked the master: ``How long will it take to design this system if I assign five programmers to it?''
``It will take one year,'' said the master promptly.
``But we need this system immediately or even sooner! How long will it take if I assign ten programmers to it?''
The master programmer frowned. ``In that case, it will take two years.''
``And what if I assign a hundred programmers to it?''
The master programmer shrugged. ``Then the design will never be completed,'' he said.
You'd think Amazon would know better... 5000 people, Sheesh. They'll actually be undesigning it -- "never completed" is nowhere near strong enough.

--
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
1. Re:From the Tao of Computer Programming... by outlander · 2017-09-28 07:59 · Score: 1
  
  Software is *never* complete. There's always one more thing to do....
  
  --
  "Truth is what works" -- William James "It works!!" -- o-dark-AM comment
2. Re:From the Tao of Computer Programming... by rgbatduke · 2017-09-29 03:04 · Score: 1
  
  Depending on the task being coded, sure. Operating systems are never complete. Programs written to count all of the letters in a standard text file and turn them into a simple table of frequencies, on the other hand, are, or would be if it weren't for the pesky operating systems and compilers and libraries and execution interfaces that keep changing.
  But in context at the level of Alexa and other zwave smart device interfaces, hell yes, the software will never be complete because a lot of it IS operating system and the rest of it is interfaces to a dazzling and ever changing array of IoT devices, each with their own controls (and internal bugs!). I have a Smart Things (Samsung) controller running things in my house, and they update both the firmware and/or the phone apps every two to three months -- and some zwave devices I own STILL don't really work very well.
  About the only way "5000 people" might make sense is if they had 2495 devices to interface, and assigned each device a two-person team. But then you'd still have a frightful collision at the OS level of the device itself where the extra 10 people could create a huge mess, and you'd have the further problem of 2495 teams reinventing the same wheels, differently, often badly.
  
  --
  Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
That Poor Developer by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 04:41 · Score: 0

There's no way 5000 people can work on one product, so I assume it's one developer and 4999 team leaders, UX designers, middle managers, diversity officers, strategic analysis and all the other people who are required to make the developer's job hell.
I hear his job is now under thread because he's a white male and the inclusion officer wants to replace him with a gay black woman.
Data is everything by el_smurfo · 2017-09-28 04:56 · Score: 2

Google has so much data feeding into it's AI and Assistant programs, I'm sure the coders are probably just there to make sure the things don't go sentient on them. Amazon has no such access and Alexa's low quality responses to many requests really show this. We got a Dot for free and use it for exactly two things, adding items to shopping lists and setting reminders for the kids. Nearly every other thing outside of "what'st the weather" gets an "I'm sorry, I don't know".
Why don't they fix their shipping instead? by avandesande · 2017-09-28 05:22 · Score: 1

I just received a 1 inch rubber grommet in the mail in a foot long ups express shipping box + bubble wrap bag. Very expensive and wasteful. I have been avoiding Amazon because I refuse to use prime and their shipping is really expensive. Often you can see the retailer selling same item on Ebay with free shipping.

--
love is just extroverted narcissism
1. Re:Why don't they fix their shipping instead? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 07:24 · Score: 0
  
  Well, rubber today. Not so good, breaks easily.
If only it didn't keep your recordings by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 05:27 · Score: 0

then we'd use them. Oh yeah, it spies on you.
5k humans must be good in voice recognition! by 4wdloop · 2017-09-28 05:39 · Score: 1

Biological assistants then? Not electronic.

--
4wdloop
Almost unimaginable by SuperKendall · 2017-09-28 06:51 · Score: 1

5000k people, with even more being hired - it boggles the mind what so many people could be doing related to voice assistance. It seems like before long you can expect to see Alexa support in nearly everything on earth - from cars (they already have a BWM/MINI integration coming soon), but beyond that probably every home appliance, shower heads, toilets, wallpaper... it must be EVERYTHING.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm sorry, by fredrated · 2017-09-28 09:40 · Score: 1

I didn't get that.
Apple only needed one! by antdude · 2017-09-28 10:02 · Score: 1

See this https://www.youtube.com/watch?... video from The Big Bang Theory. :P

--
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
not supprising, from experience.... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-28 10:58 · Score: 0

Like at my last retard company, which had a 50% ratio of managers to engineers, that spent most of their time in meetings or flying around the world, and getting more indian/asian replacements taking over - while getting rid of the original staff that created everything, and then just for fun, they like to reinvent the wheel in their name and waste another 18 months development, wasting more money, and making no profits, bunch of fucking loosers.
Alexa read the funny comments by spinitch · 2017-09-28 16:35 · Score: 1

Well the attempts to be funny then
5K for multiple languages by spinitch · 2017-09-28 16:39 · Score: 1

5K Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, German, Spanish etc... Multi language will take a tremendous effort but once they get critical mass for minor deviations then can scale back development.
pointless by Anonymous Coward · 2017-09-29 03:23 · Score: 0

Alexa, how much does a 2'x3'x1' box of water weigh.
Brings up FedEx's home page.