Anatomy of an AI System

The scene of the woman talking to Alexa is drawn from a 2017 promotional video advertising the latest version of the Amazon Echo. The video begins, "Say hello to the all-new Echo" and explains that the Echo will connect to Alexa (the artificial intelligence agent) in order to "play music, call friends and family, control smart home devices, and more." The device contains seven directional microphones, so the user can be heard at all times even when music is playing. The device comes in several styles, such as gunmetal grey or a basic beige, designed to either "blend in or stand out." But even the shiny design options maintain a kind of blankness: nothing will alert the owner to the vast network that subtends and drives its interactive capacities.