Referral Code? Yupp!

I just got an email from Yupp with a referal URL:

https://yupp.ai/join/nutritious-long-river

According to the email, if you join via this code, you get 2,500 "Yupp credits" and I get 5,000. The points are theoretically exchangeable for cash, but I haven't tried to do that and thus can't report on how it worked out.

A refresher on what Yupp is:

It's an AI chatbot comparison tool. You ask Yupp a question, and it provides answers, side by side, from two AI models. You tell it which answer you find more useful and why (by clicking on a thumbs up button and then one or more of several descriptors like "fast," "accurate," etc.). You get points each time you do that.

I've personally found Yupp more useful than just going to my preferred AI. I ask real questions I actually want answers to, and sometimes the two AIs' answers conflict. Seeing such a conflict lets me know I need to go research things manually because something ain't right.

You can also look at statistics which show you which model or models you found most useful -- and which models others found most useful.

So far, according to Yupp, I find Grok more likely to provide a correct and useful answer than, say, ChatGTP or Llama. I'm definitely an outlier, though -- Grok ranks 14th most useful among all Yupp users, which makes me wonder if there's not some kind of campaign of users down-voting Grok just to screw with Elon Musk or something.

Anyway, use it or don't. If you do, I think the 5,000 credits I get come to something like 50 cents, so it's not going to make or break my bank.

A Preemptive Gripe About @Amazon

Per CNBC:

Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence and plans to charge a monthly subscription fee to offset the cost of the technology, according to people with knowledge of Amazon’s plans. ... Amazon’s subscription for Alexa will not be included in the $139-per-year Prime offering, and Amazon has not yet nailed down the price point, one source said.

My household currently boasts four Echo Dot devices of various generations (and has retired several devices over time as well). All of which I bought from Amazon.

I also pay Amazon a yearly fee for its Prime service.

And a monthly fee for its "unlimited" music service.

And I buy quite a bit of stuff from Amazon. Some of that stuff on the basis of recommendations/reminders from Alexa.

If this new AI for Alexa is a no-opt-out replacement for the things Alexa already does, and I get charged for it or can't use Alexa, I'm gonna be pretty pissed. I'll be shutting down the Echo devices, canceling the paid music subscription (which I use almost entirely via those Echo devices), and looking for another "home assistant speaker" option that doesn't pull that kind of bait and switch bullshit on me.

If it's an optional add-on, I guess I'll consider the price and decide whether I want it or not.

But what it should be is just a regular old update to Alexa, included in the price of the speakers themselves and my Prime membership.

Amazon is replaceable. Not as easily and cheaply replaceable as I'd like, but definitely replaceable. And charging existing, recurring, loyal customers more money to use devices they already bought is a great way to get them thinking about replacements.

Hopefully the story is incorrect. Hopefully if it's correct, Amazon will reconsider any poor choices it's planning to make. If neither of those is the case, it's probably going to take a big revenue and reputation hit.