Amazon Echo: Always listening

For years, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos knew the computer he wanted to build. He wanted it to be cheap, accessible everywhere, and controlled entirely by voice. It took Amazon a number of years, a lot of false starts, and some deeply strange focus groups, but the company eventually turned the Amazon Echo into something like the voice computer Bezos wanted, powered by an assistant called Alexa. (Even though Bezos kind of hated the thing along the way.) In this episode, we tell the story of the development of Alexa and the Echo, and try to figure out what Amazon got right and wrong about the voice-based future — and whether AI could make it come true for real. Further reading: The Secret Origins of Amazon's Alexa We’re also on video! Check us out on YouTube. Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices