Amazon: The Tech Breakthroughs

THE TECH BREAKTHROUGHS

Amazon continues to rise among the most powerful corporations in the world. While starting out as a business centered around e-commerce, it has branched out to other places of interest, especially in improving their technology. Some of such fields of technology are robotics and artificial intelligence. In 2013, Amazon released their virtual assistant Alexa to the general public. Created by Amazon Lab126, it is capable of voice interaction, music playback, make-to-do lists, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, providing weather reports, and much more. It also has connections to other smart devices and apps. By 2019, Amazon has released 100 million devices enabled by Alexa. Concerns for privacy have been noted due to the data it collects and the potential vulnerability to hackers. In addition to Alexa, Amazon has been developing a new device from its robotics department dedicated to direct delivery to people that order goods online. It’s called Amazon Scout. It’s a six-wheeled robot created around 2019 to be the next progression in Amazon’s deliveries. The robot is fully electric as part of its net zero carbon emission policies. The robots would be used to replace common delivery carriers. It is with these developments that concerns of jobs being taken away from humans due to this next step in automated delivery have come into the conversation. There is also the concern of such robots being present in neighborhoods for residents not ready for them.

With these developments, Amazon pushes for more progress into artificial intelligence and robotics continues as more investment goes into their respective fields. While concerns for job replacement and privacy are matters of importance, Amazon has continued to try to improve its technology to meet the increasing need for more conveniences and integration of electronic systems in daily life. Whether they succeed is to be seen.