- Amazon has revealed Alexa’s most requested questions all through 2024 inside the UK
- Some stunning entries embody Henry VIII and cake pops
- The ‘shock’ interactions file has left us deeply concerned
Amazon has merely revealed essentially the most well-liked Alexa questions that UK followers have requested the voice assistant all through 2024 – and it’s an often unnerving peek contained within the uncommon minds of Alexa clients.
The questions, which Amazon’s lower up into courses equal to ‘of us’, ‘net worth’, ‘spouses’, ‘recipes’ and additional, naturally comprise some extraordinarily predictable entries that are identical to closing 12 months’s. No-one will in all probability be shocked to hearken to that Taylor Swift topped the queries file, or that ‘utterly pleased birthday’ was essentially the most well-liked tune request.
Nonetheless nestled in among the many many bland entries are some telling and relating to particulars. As an illustration, the best three entries inside the ‘shock’ Alexa interactions are ‘fart’, ‘roast me’ and ‘marry me’. If this could be a hint of how we’ll be interacting with the likes of ChatGPT Voice Mode, it components to a darkish, troubled future for our poor voice assistants.
On the plus aspect, the Konami code (‘Up up down down left correct left correct B A’) does make the best 10 in its class, so there’s hope for us however. However after we aren’t taken down by a toxic, co-dependent relationship with voice assistants, essentially the most well-liked Alexa recipe questions counsel that calorific consumption may however be our undoing.
This 12 months, pancakes took the first spot from Yorkshire puddings on the recipe entrance. Nonetheless new entries this 12 months are ‘cake pops’ (a improvement we thought had fizzled out in 2023) and ‘mango ice cream’. Clearly, 2024 has been a 12 months for comfort meals.
Perhaps most relating to, ‘scrambled eggs’ moreover makes the file, suggesting that we aren’t going to going to be troubling an episode of Chef’s Desk anytime rapidly.
An innocent voice assistant age
Whereas there are some uncommon entries in these Alexa ‘most requested’ questions, and accepting that they do solely mirror the warped minds of UK clients, I consider that these queries will rapidly seem quaint compared with the conversations we’ll rapidly be having with AI-powered assistants.
Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt currently talked about “that type of obsession is possible” when requested in regards to the doubtlessly worrying prospect of “glorious” AI girlfriends, and there may be very lots a darkish aspect to AI friendships that declare to treatment loneliness. Perhaps it’s a good issue that Alexa AI has been delayed until 2025.
Nonetheless, on steadiness, this 12 months’s most-asked Alexa questions current a largely constructive relationship with Amazon’s voice assistant, with “sing a tune about canines” coming in second on the most-requested songs and “thanks” extraordinarily topping the ‘persona’ charts.
Geographical quirks nonetheless exist, too, no matter our an increasing number of globalized world, with Henry VIII beating Cat Deeley and Ed Sheeran inside the UK to the best of questions on ‘spouses’ (presumably helped by a model new assortment of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light on BBC iPlayer).
Nonetheless the biggest takeaway is that Yorkshire puddings, closing 12 months’s major most-requested recipe, should up their sport in 2025 is that they are to regain the best spot in opposition to new upstart queries like ‘roasted cauliflower’ and ‘halloumi stuffed peppers’.