Rolfe Winkler & Tess Townsend on voice-asst war, predictions & why FB & Amazon are key players | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Google and Facebook are leading the way in AI assistants, but Amazon's Alexa has a strong advantage with its integrated purchasing capabilities.

Key Insights

• 🎰 Startups are highly reliant on AI and machine learning but struggle to hire experts in these areas due to limited availability.
• 👋 Google and Facebook are investing heavily in AI to attract the best talent.
• 🥺 Amazon's Alexa has a significant lead in the AI assistant market due to its existing hardware presence and purchasing partnerships.
• 👯 Alexa is being utilized for various tasks, making it a useful tool in people's everyday lives.
• 😌 Amazon's advantage lies in its built-in revenue streams and integration with existing tools and platforms.
• 🐕‍🦺 The future success of AI assistants may depend on their ability to integrate with other services and platforms.
• 🥺 Google's rollout of Assistant to Android is partially driven by the need to catch up to Amazon's hardware lead.

Transcript

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Questions & Answers

Q: Why are startups struggling to hire AI and machine learning experts?

Startups face difficulty in hiring experts because there is a limited pool of individuals specializing in these areas. Google and Facebook have invested in acquiring top talent.

Q: Who has the advantage in the AI assistant market between Google, Facebook, and Amazon?

Currently, Amazon's Alexa has a significant lead, primarily due to its existing hardware presence and partnerships. However, Google and Facebook are investing heavily to catch up.

Q: What are some of the tasks that Alexa can assist with?

Alexa can assist with tasks such as providing recipes, playing music, setting timers, ordering food, telling jokes, and even defining words.

Q: Why is Amazon not as pressured to advertise with Alexa?

Unlike Google and Facebook, Amazon already has built-in revenue streams with its partnerships for buying products through Alexa. This gives them an advantage and less need for heavy advertising.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Startups are heavily reliant on AI and machine learning, but struggle to hire experts in these fields due to limited availability.

• Google and Facebook are investing heavily in AI, but Amazon's Alexa has a lead with its existing hardware and partnerships.

• Alexa is already being utilized for various tasks such as recipe assistance, playing music, setting timers, and even ordering food.