A former Amazon Alexa engineer explains how raising a son with Down syndrome drove her to build voice AI that lets people access banking, healthcare, and legal services through conversation. She argues companies should deploy AI to solve real accessibility problems, not chase hype.
Chapters
Well, maybe this audience will eventually come to know me. I am pretty optimistic in general, so I am a rational optimist, but for good reason. You know, I got into the world of AI like 12 years ago with Amazon Alexa. I helped launch that product and I did it. I was really driven because I have a son with Down syndrome and he was 9 at the time, and I was really interested in a technology you could talk to because I was like, oh my gosh, the only thing I have to do now is teach you how to talk. And then as long as there was an app on the other end listening to activate your banking information or your healthcare system or legal services, like as long as a company built a voice interface, he could do anything now, right? As long as he could communicate. That's cool. And that was really the promise of Alexa, of Google Assistant, and now even of ChatGPT. So that I think you're right. Like any business now can just activate AI in their company by just asking some questions. But what I always encourage you to do is think,