For better or worse, Amazon Alexa and Google Home's smart voice assistants have been imbued with the powers of generative AI. The promise is that you can use natural language with your smart speaker to adjust your thermostat, lock the doors, and find out what your pets have been up to. The reality is smart home voice assistants seem to be going through an identity crisis. Senior reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy invites Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel onto his own podcast to compare notes on life with Alexa Plus vs. Gemini for Home.
0:00 Intro
00:32 90 Seconds on The Verge
03:22 Google Home woes
05:48 Why AI breaks smart homes?
09:38 Alexa+ ads problem
17:04 What actually works?
21:04 Gemini Live goes off the rails
24:09 Can Apple or OpenAI fix it?
30:14 Cameras in the smart home
33:55 The surveillance and value gap
38:44 Wrap up
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