3 ms·

Imagine a world where every phone gets turned into a useful digital assistant that can order things for us online via APIs. I wonder if Amazon is ready for this

Imagine a world where every phone gets turned into a useful digital assistant that can order things for us online via APIs. I wonder if Amazon is ready for this.

helsinkiandrew 3y ago
> Imagine a world where every phone gets turned into a useful digital assistant that can order things for us online via APIs. I wonder if Amazon is ready for this. Due to its size and infrastructure Amazon has advantages of choice, price, delivery and service. No digital (or human) assistant is going to be able to find a better deals on most items and then negotiate for it to be delivered tomorrow, free or cheaply, with a fairly good, no quibble, return policy.
CSMastermind 3y ago
I think the more interesting world is where AI assistants overtake the GUI as the primary interface for many operating system functions. It's my belief that the lasting innovation of LLMs will be finally making voice a true first order interface for our computers. "We'll just be talking to them" is something I've heard since the 90s and it seems like we can finally see that reality on the horizon.
- idle_zealot 3y ago
  That sounds endlessly frustrating. Imagine trying to use your computer and the primary way to accomplish anything is to convince/prompt-engineer some two-bit LLM into doing it. First you have to convince it that what you're doing is ethical and doesn't violate its safety guidelines, then you have to get it to actually translate your natural language into the actions you want to perform, which will be more difficult the less common those actions are, and finally you need to check its action plan for any subtle errors or misinterpretation. It would be like operating a computer by way of a phone call with an annoying relative who doesn't quite know how to use one. This will be the case until we have AI agents that are as intelligent and competent as a top-percentile human personal assistant. At the point where that's possible though, I doubt the future of phone interfaces will be the most interesting change.
- botulidze 3y ago
  When it comes to GUI, I can click faster than I talk. Sometimes typing would be a bit faster as well, in case you need to correct an error. Also, imagine a bunch of people talking all day long in an open space instead of mouse clicking/typing. Brain to machine signaling interface is the logical step forward if we really want to be faster at input.
enos_feedler 3y ago
of course amazon is ready for this. they are on the back-end API for all of these digital assistants
pests 3y ago
Is this sarcasm?
- CTDOCodebases 3y ago
  Not at all. I'm lazy. Why do I have to open the Amazon app to search for what I want and click one button. Why can't Siri do it for me and take a percentage of the sale? Also I don't want to be limited to Amazon only so why not allow approved merchants to plug their backends into the search that Siri does?
knowriju 3y ago
This is only true for the affluent people in the world. Every person I personally know off will reasearch the shit out of the products including coupons available before making any kind of medium-high value purchase. The digital assistant will need to be impartial and help in comparison with other similar product. Then again different people have different comparison criteria. Based on context I might be okay with a chinese knockoff while most of the time I might prefer the item that will last the longest.

Imagine a world where every phone gets turned into a useful digital assistant that can order things for us online via APIs. I wonder if Amazon is ready for this.

helsinkiandrew 3y ago

> Imagine a world where every phone gets turned into a useful digital assistant that can order things for us online via APIs. I wonder if Amazon is ready for this. Due to its size and infrastructure Amazon has advantages of choice, price, delivery and service. No digital (or human) assistant is going to be able to find a better deals on most items and then negotiate for it to be delivered tomorrow, free or cheaply, with a fairly good, no quibble, return policy.

CSMastermind 3y ago

I think the more interesting world is where AI assistants overtake the GUI as the primary interface for many operating system functions. It's my belief that the lasting innovation of LLMs will be finally making voice a true first order interface for our computers. "We'll just be talking to them" is something I've heard since the 90s and it seems like we can finally see that reality on the horizon.

idle_zealot 3y ago
That sounds endlessly frustrating. Imagine trying to use your computer and the primary way to accomplish anything is to convince/prompt-engineer some two-bit LLM into doing it. First you have to convince it that what you're doing is ethical and doesn't violate its safety guidelines, then you have to get it to actually translate your natural language into the actions you want to perform, which will be more difficult the less common those actions are, and finally you need to check its action plan for any subtle errors or misinterpretation. It would be like operating a computer by way of a phone call with an annoying relative who doesn't quite know how to use one. This will be the case until we have AI agents that are as intelligent and competent as a top-percentile human personal assistant. At the point where that's possible though, I doubt the future of phone interfaces will be the most interesting change.
botulidze 3y ago
When it comes to GUI, I can click faster than I talk. Sometimes typing would be a bit faster as well, in case you need to correct an error. Also, imagine a bunch of people talking all day long in an open space instead of mouse clicking/typing. Brain to machine signaling interface is the logical step forward if we really want to be faster at input.

enos_feedler 3y ago

of course amazon is ready for this. they are on the back-end API for all of these digital assistants

pests 3y ago

Is this sarcasm?

CTDOCodebases 3y ago
Not at all. I'm lazy. Why do I have to open the Amazon app to search for what I want and click one button. Why can't Siri do it for me and take a percentage of the sale? Also I don't want to be limited to Amazon only so why not allow approved merchants to plug their backends into the search that Siri does?

knowriju 3y ago

This is only true for the affluent people in the world. Every person I personally know off will reasearch the shit out of the products including coupons available before making any kind of medium-high value purchase. The digital assistant will need to be impartial and help in comparison with other similar product. Then again different people have different comparison criteria. Based on context I might be okay with a chinese knockoff while most of the time I might prefer the item that will last the longest.