Amazon joins forces with Getty Images to improve Alexa's 'visual style'
Originally released way back in 2014, Alexa is starting to lose precious ground in the battle for AI supremacy against its young and ambitious Google Assistant challenger. But what Amazon’s virtual assistant reportedly lacks in accent comprehension and overall IQ, it now makes up for in “visual style.”
In order to ensure the Echo Show and Echo Spot smart speakers with touchscreens can stay ahead of so-called “smart displays” from the likes of Lenovo, JBL, and LG, Amazon has managed to enlist the help of a “world leader in visual communication.”
Starting... sometime soon, the two aforementioned display-sporting Echos will be able to show you relevant, high-quality answers in the form of premium Getty Images content to questions like “who won best Actress” at the latest Academy Awards or “what is the capital of Uruguay.”
Basically, instead of relying on Bing and Wikipedia searches as before, Alexa will now use Getty’s monumental library of 300 million “assets” to bring “best-in-class visuals to Echo users” whenever possible.
Echo Show and Echo Spot users will obviously not be requested to pay anything extra for this service, while downloading a single picture from Getty Images typically costs around $500. Of course, just because you can look at this content it doesn’t mean you’re free to use it without a license.
What it does mean is that Amazon is pulling out all the stops to try to hinder the growing popularity of Google Home devices. The search giant has long been rumored to have a smart display of its own in the pipeline, and Alexa needs all the “premier” content it can get to fend off Google Assistant’s rise.
In order to ensure the Echo Show and Echo Spot smart speakers with touchscreens can stay ahead of so-called “smart displays” from the likes of Lenovo, JBL, and LG, Amazon has managed to enlist the help of a “world leader in visual communication.”
Starting... sometime soon, the two aforementioned display-sporting Echos will be able to show you relevant, high-quality answers in the form of premium Getty Images content to questions like “who won best Actress” at the latest Academy Awards or “what is the capital of Uruguay.”
Basically, instead of relying on Bing and Wikipedia searches as before, Alexa will now use Getty’s monumental library of 300 million “assets” to bring “best-in-class visuals to Echo users” whenever possible.
Echo Show and Echo Spot users will obviously not be requested to pay anything extra for this service, while downloading a single picture from Getty Images typically costs around $500. Of course, just because you can look at this content it doesn’t mean you’re free to use it without a license.
What it does mean is that Amazon is pulling out all the stops to try to hinder the growing popularity of Google Home devices. The search giant has long been rumored to have a smart display of its own in the pipeline, and Alexa needs all the “premier” content it can get to fend off Google Assistant’s rise.
source: Getty Images
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