Color me surprised, Amazon’s CEO wants to stuff AI with ads in a move I totally didn’t see coming
- Amazon’s CEO teased advertisements might be coming to Alexa+
- Other Alexa+ subscription tiers might be on the way, too
- No release date yet, but it sounds like a matter of when, not if
Amazon’s Alexa+ may have only been around for a short time, and while that would usually mean it’s in the rapid user-growth stage, it sounds like Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is already planning its demise: stuffing its conversations with ads.
Speaking at Amazon’s most recent investor call, Jassy explained that “People do a lot of shopping [with Alexa+]”
Adding “I think over time, there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue.” Basically, if you ask Alexa+ for shopping recommendations, some of its responses might eventually be sponsored.
Jassy went on to discuss the possibility of different payment tiers beyond the existing $19.99 a month model – it is already free with Amazon Prime – suggesting we may see an ad-supported and ad-free tier, but the idea sounds yucky. Right?
Because if AI’s responses can be paid for, why would you trust anything it says ever again?
We knew this was coming
AI has sold itself as an unbiased guru that can answer many of life’s questions, but it’s increasingly clear how untrue that is.
After the bot couldn’t stop correcting its master, X AI’s Grok received some major changes leading to very public (and hate-ridden) crashouts, and now it seemingly serves as a mouthpiece for Elon Musk rather than any semblance of a reliable third-party.
The Chinese-run DeepSeek bot has been found to tow the Chinese Communist Party line on topics like Taiwan independence and Tiananmen Square, and I’m sure there are plenty of more subtle biases built into every AI chatbot out there.
Advertisements would bring in another layer of mistrust, especially depending on how they’re implemented.
In Alexa’s case, if it recommends three products and a fourth clearly marked as sponsored, why would you be incentivized to buy it? As you know, Alexa is suggesting it only because it was paid to do so. You’re much better off picking one of the other genuine recommendations.
Alternatively, if it instead prewarns you that some answers are sponsored, but doesn’t then label which answers were bought, you wouldn’t be able to trust that any of its shopping suggestions aren’t simply being paid for.
But ads were inevitable in many ways.
The race to the bottom on subscriptions means that many people don’t want to pay much for AI tools. Simultaneously, investors in their quarterly calls to big tech companies are starting to ask how the billions being invested in AI might eventually be turned into profit.
The now-not-so-quiet part that Amazon’s CEO just said aloud is advertising. People can have a cheap AI service, and the company can get paid.
I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem any different from the systems we already have through sponsored entries in Google or on Amazon’s store.
I was promised a Jarvis-like AI agent, not the same as what we have, but in a different wrapper.
Perhaps I’m getting tired of the perpetual AI hype, but with sponsored conversations looking like they’re headed our way, we might start to see some AI systems get ruined and die off – I can only hope.