“Alexa, find me a Chinese restaurant.”

“Alexa, what’s on my schedule today?”
“
Alexa, set a timer for 20 minutes.”

The Amazon Echo, often referred to as ‘Echo’, claims recognition as the newest smart speaker. It serves as a voice-controlled intelligent assistant, responding to the name “Alexa”. The endless capabilities of Echo include setting alarms, streaming music, providing the weather, and finding nearby locations.

The typical model has a base price of $49.99, while more elaborate versions sell for more than $150. Although initially released in November 2014, Amazon Echo gained momentum during the 2016 holiday season. Since hitting the markets, an estimated 5.1 million units were sold.

Google Home, Echo’s biggest competitor, continues to rival Amazon’s product. Echo is physically characterized as a tall, black cylinder whereas its Google equivalent is shorter, lighter, and rounder. Echo inherently has more flaws as it continues to adapt to the new desires of consumers. CNN reporter Kelly Heather notes, “Alexa handles its core tasks extremely well, but is catching up when it comes to search, translation and managing personal commands like scheduling and messaging. Google has vastly more experience with voice search, personalized tasks, machine learning and natural language processing.”

A drastic price difference also exists between both devices. The highest end model of Amazon Echo is roughly $180, whereas Google Home is a mere $130. Many critics question whether or not Echo is truly worth an extra $50, or if the arguably superior Google product is the better option.

Despite the apparent benefits of Echo, the intrusive nature of microphones poses a security threat. Since the programming picks up indirect verbal sound, many are wary of privacy. Jimmy Gao ‘20 reflects, “The Amazon Echo worries me in terms of privacy. It makes me uncomfortable how she constantly listens to everything you say.”

In agreement with Gao, Tanvi Namjoshi ‘20 claims, “The Amazon Echo is a great advancement in technology, however it is extremely scary that it always listens to you. It is concerning how this data can be saved and could be accessed by outside sources.”

Gao and Namjoshi, among many others, speculate that Echo and other voice-controlled technologies will heighten spying tactics as well as ease identity theft.
Nevertheless, it is important for consumers weigh the benefits and risks of Echo. Perhaps society should embrace automation as the voice of the future and overcome fear-based paralysis.