About one year ago I had my first conversation with Alexa, a personal assistant built in to the $179 Amazon Echo (about £125, AU$230). The conversation wasn’t very deep, but I got a good laugh asking Alexa stupid questions, having her shuffle my music and asking about mundane topics like the weather or the time. The earliest conversations were simple, almost child-like.

As the months went on our conversations got deeper as the team at Amazon added more functionality. Soon we could talk about sports, or what I had coming up on my calendar. Alexa could report that the Buffalo Bills lost another game (not that I need an AI to tell me that) and how I was already late for a meeting.

It wasn’t much longer before Alexa could read audiobooks, play my favorite podcasts and control some of the other smart devices I have around the house. Most recently Amazon took Alexa out of the house (figuratively) to teach her about local businesses through Yelp. I can now ask Alexa about where I should go for Chinese food, or when the grocery store closes.
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https://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/audio-systems/amazon-echo-1272454/review