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Here’s a good example where engineers needed a team like this: - should we name this device we want to put in every house after one of the most common American

by mint2 4y ago

Here’s a good example where engineers needed a team like this: - should we name this device we want to put in every house after one of the most common American female names?! engineers and ceo: I see no issue with that! Several millions people named Alexa now have everyone from toddlers to their friends yelling their name ordering them to do stupid tasks and “Alex stop” repeatedly. The name cratered in popularity for good reason. Yet Amazon still has not renamed their dumb speaker

danrocks 4y ago
Alexa was only the 32nd most popular name in the US for girls. A little over 6k babies were named Alexa in the US prior to the speaker's launch. The "Alexa stop" thing, is it a real or invented harm? My name happens to match the lead character of Karate Kid and I constantly asked to do the crane pose when I was 7. Doesn't seem to have traumatized me.
- MichaelCollins 4y ago
  > Alexa was only the 32nd most popular name in the US for girls. 32nd most popular is not exactly obscure. Why did they have to give the computer a human name in the first place? Probably because it helps people form some sort of parasocial relationship to the product, which is gross, but probably good for business.
  - danrocks 4y ago
    I used to work there, after the launch (and therefore, of the name). One of the reasons given was that Alexa was a distinctly suitable word for proper recognition by the ASR model embedded on the device software. Also probably because it was good for business.
- mint2 4y ago
  The popularity of the name cratered after launch. That doesn’t signify anything to you? That anecdote is nice but honestly it sounds like you survived a less frequent and more temporary somewhat similar but much milder version so now you’re stating everyone else needs to get over themselves?
  - danrocks 4y ago
    What does it signify? Annoyance? Yes. Harm, such that it required a committee of enlighted priests to have blocked it? Where is the evidence for it?
    - mint2 4y ago
      For illustrative purposes: Dan stop! Dan stop! Dan set timer for 50 minutes. Timer set for 15 minutes. Dan stop! Dan cancel timer! Dan set timer for Fiifttyy minutes” Dan turn off kitchen light” Dan set thermostat to 68. Dan play Music. Your name is now Kleenexified to mean robotic female servant, no harm! It doesn’t seem like you googled or looked into how people named Alexa actually feel before pronouncing how they should feel. This comment chain really shows why these responsibility vetting teams are needed, a lot of corporate workers are not empathetic or considerate beyond their immediate siloed task and assume everyone should react exactly the same as they did to only very tangentially similar experiences.
MichaelCollins 4y ago
I think you're misplacing blame for this, I don't think the engineers are the root cause of this problem. Why don't these devices let people set their own custom codephrases? I suspect that wouldn't fly with management/marketing etc, who want to create a marketable brand out of the codeword. In fact I'm virtually certain that engineers at amazon weren't the ones who chose the name "Alexa" in the first place, that decision probably went through a dozen squared meetings and committees of marketers and PR people.
- neon_electro 4y ago
  They have since 2021, expanding the set to "Alexa", "Amazon", "Computer", and "Echo". [0] Nonetheless, defaults are incredibly powerful. [1] [0] https://www.rd.com/list/how-to-change-alexas-name/ https://www.rd.com/list/how-to-change-alexas-name/ [1] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/
mateo411 4y ago
I'm pretty sure that a Product Manager made the final call on the name of the device. Some DS nerds might have given a list of names that could be used and presented some stats on the accuracy of the device recognizing the name, but the PM probably made the final call.

by mint2 4y ago

danrocks 4y ago

Alexa was only the 32nd most popular name in the US for girls. A little over 6k babies were named Alexa in the US prior to the speaker's launch. The "Alexa stop" thing, is it a real or invented harm? My name happens to match the lead character of Karate Kid and I constantly asked to do the crane pose when I was 7. Doesn't seem to have traumatized me.

MichaelCollins 4y ago
> Alexa was only the 32nd most popular name in the US for girls. 32nd most popular is not exactly obscure. Why did they have to give the computer a human name in the first place? Probably because it helps people form some sort of parasocial relationship to the product, which is gross, but probably good for business.
- danrocks 4y ago
  I used to work there, after the launch (and therefore, of the name). One of the reasons given was that Alexa was a distinctly suitable word for proper recognition by the ASR model embedded on the device software. Also probably because it was good for business.
mint2 4y ago
The popularity of the name cratered after launch. That doesn’t signify anything to you? That anecdote is nice but honestly it sounds like you survived a less frequent and more temporary somewhat similar but much milder version so now you’re stating everyone else needs to get over themselves?
- danrocks 4y ago
  What does it signify? Annoyance? Yes. Harm, such that it required a committee of enlighted priests to have blocked it? Where is the evidence for it?
  - mint2 4y ago
    For illustrative purposes: Dan stop! Dan stop! Dan set timer for 50 minutes. Timer set for 15 minutes. Dan stop! Dan cancel timer! Dan set timer for Fiifttyy minutes” Dan turn off kitchen light” Dan set thermostat to 68. Dan play Music. Your name is now Kleenexified to mean robotic female servant, no harm! It doesn’t seem like you googled or looked into how people named Alexa actually feel before pronouncing how they should feel. This comment chain really shows why these responsibility vetting teams are needed, a lot of corporate workers are not empathetic or considerate beyond their immediate siloed task and assume everyone should react exactly the same as they did to only very tangentially similar experiences.

MichaelCollins 4y ago

I think you're misplacing blame for this, I don't think the engineers are the root cause of this problem. Why don't these devices let people set their own custom codephrases? I suspect that wouldn't fly with management/marketing etc, who want to create a marketable brand out of the codeword. In fact I'm virtually certain that engineers at amazon weren't the ones who chose the name "Alexa" in the first place, that decision probably went through a dozen squared meetings and committees of marketers and PR people.

neon_electro 4y ago
They have since 2021, expanding the set to "Alexa", "Amazon", "Computer", and "Echo". [0] Nonetheless, defaults are incredibly powerful. [1] [0] https://www.rd.com/list/how-to-change-alexas-name/ https://www.rd.com/list/how-to-change-alexas-name/ [1] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/the-power-of-defaults/

mateo411 4y ago

I'm pretty sure that a Product Manager made the final call on the name of the device. Some DS nerds might have given a list of names that could be used and presented some stats on the accuracy of the device recognizing the name, but the PM probably made the final call.