Amazon: Machine-Generated Content Adds to Overhead Costs
July 7, 2023
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Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
“Amazon Has a Big Problem As AI-Generated Books Flood Kindle Unlimited” makes it clear that Amazon is going to have to re-think how it runs its self-publishing operation and figure out how to deal with machine-generated books from “respected” publishers.
The author of the article is expressing concern about ChatGPT-type outputs being assembled into electronic books. That concern is focused on Amazon and its ageing, arthritic Kindle eBook business. With voice to text tools, I suppose one should think about Audible audiobooks spit out by text-to-voice. The culprit, however, may be Amazon itself. Paying a person read a book for seven hours, not screw up, and making sure the sound is acceptable when the reader has a stuffed nose can be pricey.
A senior Amazon executive thinks to herself, “How can I fix this fake content stuff? I should really update my LinkedIn profile too.’ Will the lucky executive charged with fixing the problem identified in the article be allowed to eliminate revenue? Yep, get going on the LinkedIn profile first. Tackle the fake stuff later.
The write up points out:
the mass uploading of AI-generated books could be used to facilitate click-farming, where ‘bots’ click through a book automatically, generating royalties from Amazon Kindle Unlimited, which pays authors by the amount of pages that are read in an eBook.
And what’s Amazon doing about this quasi-fake content? The article reports:
It [Amazon] didn’t explicitly state that it was making an effort specifically to address the apparent spam-like persistent uploading of nonsensical and incoherent AI-generated books.
Then, the article raises the issues of “quality” and “authenticity.” I am not sure what these two glory words mean. My impression is that a machine-generated book is not as good as one crafted by a subject matter expert or motivated human author. If I am right, the editors at TechRadar are apparently oblivious to the idea of using XML structure content and a MarkLogic-type tool to slice-and-dice content. Then the components are assembled into a reference book. I want to point out that this method has been in use by professional publishers for a number of years. Because I signed a confidentiality agreement, I am not able to identify this outfit. But I still recall the buzz of excitement that rippled through one officer meeting at this outfit when those listening to a presentation realized [a] Humanoids could be terminated and a reduced staff could produce more books and [b] the guts of the technology was a database, a technology mostly understood by those with a few technical conferences under their belt. Yippy! No one had to learn anything. Just calculate the financial benefit of dumping humans and figuring out how to expense the contractors who could format content from a hovel in a Myanmar-type of low-cost location. At night, the executives dreamed about their bonuses for hitting their financial targets and how to start RIF’ing editorial staff, subject matter experts, and assorted specialists who doodled with front matter, footnotes, and fonts.
Net net: There is no fix. The write up illustrates the lack of understanding about how large sections of the information industry uses technology and the established procedures for dealing with cost-saving opportunity. Quality means more revenue from decisions. Authenticity is a marketing job. Amazon has a content problem and has to gear up its tools and business procedures to cope with machine-generated content whether in product reviews and eBooks.
Stephen E Arnold, July 7, 2023
Amazon AWS PR: A Signal from a Weakening Heart?
June 26, 2023
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Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
I read “Amazon’s vision: An AI Model for Everything.” Readers of these essays know that I am uncomfortable with categorical affirmatives like “all”, “every”, and “everything.” The article in Semafor (does the word remind you of a traffic light in Lima, Peru?) is an interview with a vice president of Amazon Web Services. AWS is part of the online bookstore and digital flea market available at Amazon.com. The write up asserts that AWS will offer an “AI model for everything.” Everything? That’s a modest claim for a fast moving and rapidly changing suite of technologies.
Amazon executives — unlike some high-technology firms’ professionals — are usually less visible. But here is Matt Wood, the VP of AWS, explaining the digital flea market’s approach to smart software manifested in AWS cloud technology. I thought AWS was numero uno in the cloud computing club. Big dogs don’t do much PR but this is 2023, so adaptation is necessary I assume. AWS is shadowed by Microsoft, allegedly was number two, in the Cloud Club. Make no mistake, the Softies and their good enough software are gunning for the top spot in a small but elite strata of the techno world. The Google, poor Google, is lumbering through a cloud bedecked market with its user first, super duper promises for the future and panting quantum, AI, Office 365 with each painful step.
In a gym, high above the clouds in a sky scraper in the Pacific northwest, a high powered denizen of the exclusive Cloud Club, experiences a chest pain in the rarified air. After saying, “Hey, I am a-okay.” The sleek and successful member of an exclusive club, yelps and grabs his chest. Those in the club express shock and dismay. But one person seems to smile. Is that a Microsoftie or a Googler looking just a little bit happy at the fellow member’s obvious distress? MidJourney cooked up a this tasty illustration. Thanks, you plagiarism free bot you.
The Semafor interview offers some statements about its goals. No information about AWS and its Byzantine cloud pricing policies, nor is much PR light shed on the yard sale approach to third party sourced products.
Here are three snippets which caught my attention. (I call these labored statements because each seems as if a committee of lawyers, blue chip consultants, and interns crafted them, but that’s just my opinion. You may find these gems worthy of writing on a note card and saving for those occasions when you need a snappy quotation.)
Labored statement one
But there’s an old Amazon adage that these things are usually an “and” and not an “or.” So we’re doing both.
Got that? Boolean, isn’t it? Even though Amazon AWS explained its smart software years ago, a fact I documented in an invited lecture I gave in 2019, the company has not delivered on its promise of “off the shelf, ready to run” models, packaged data sets, and easy-to-use methods so AWS customers could deploy smart software easily. Like Amazon’s efforts in blockchain, some ideational confections were in the AWS jungle. A suite of usable and problem solving services were not. Has AWS pioneered in more than complicated cloud pricing?
Labored statement two
The ability to take that data and then take a foundational model and just contribute additional knowledge and information to it very quickly and very easily, and then put it into production very quickly and very easily, then iterate on it in production very quickly and very easily. That’s kind of the model that we’re seeing.
Ah, ha. I loved the “just.” Easy stuff. Digital Lego blocks. I once stayed in the Lego hotel. On arrival, I watched a team of Lego professionals trying to reassemble one of the Lego sculptures some careless child had knocked over. Little rectangles littered the hotel lobby. Two days later when I checked out, the Lego Star Wars’ figure was still being reassembled. I thought Lego toys were easy to use. Oh, well. My perception of AWS is that there are many, many components. Licensees can just assemble them as long as they have the time, expertise, and money. Is that the kind of model AWS will deliver or is delivering?
Labored statement three
ChatGPT may be the most successful technology demo since the original iPhone introduction. It puts a dent in the universe.
My immediate reaction: “What about fire, the wheel, printing, the Internet?” And I liked the fact that ChatGPT is a demonstration. Let me describe how Amazon handles its core functions. The anecdote dates from early 2022. I wrote about ordering an AMD Ryzen 5950 and receiving from Amazon a pair of red female-centric underwear.
This red female undergarment arrived after I ordered an AMD Ryzen 5950 CPU. My wife estimated the value of the giant sized personal item at about $4.00US. The 5950 cost me about $550.00US. I am not sure how a warehouse fulfillment professional or a poorly maintained robot picker could screw up my order. But Amazon pulled it off and then for almost a month insisted the panties were the CPU.
This picture is the product sent to me by Amazon instead of an AMD Ryzen 5950 CPU. For the full story see, “Amazon: Is the Company Losing Control of Essentials?” After three weeks of going back and forth with Amazon’s stellar customer service department, my money was refunded. I was told to keep the underwear which now hang on the corner of the computer with the chip. I was able to buy the chip for a lower price from B+H Photo Video. When I opened the package, I saw the AMD box, not a pair of cheap, made-heaven-knows-where panties.
What did that say about Amazon’s ability to drive the Bezos bulldozer now that the founder rides his yacht, lifts weights, and ponders how Elon Musk and SpaceX have become the go-to space outfit? Can Amazon deliver something the customer wants?
Several observations:
First, this PR effort is a signal that Amazon is aware that it is losing ground in the AI battle.
Second, the Amazon approach is unlikely to slow Microsoft’s body slam of commercial customers. Microsoft’s software may be “good enough” to keep Word and SharePoint lovers on the digital ranch.
Third, Amazon’s Bezos bulldozer drivers seem to have lost its GPS signal. May I suggest ordering a functioning GPS from Wal-Mart?
Basics, Amazon, basics, not words. Especially words like “everything.” Do one thing and do it well, please.
Stephen E Arnold, June 26, 2023
Killing Wickr … Quickly and Without Love
January 27, 2023
Encrypted messaging services are popular for privacy-concerned users as well as freedom fighters in authoritarian countries. Tech companies consider these messaging services to be a wise investment, so Amazon purchased Wickr in 2020. Wickr is an end-to-end encrypted messaging app and it was made available for AWS users. Gizmodo explains that Wickr will soon be nonexistent in the article, “Amazon Plans To Close Up Wickr’s User-Centric Encrypted Messaging App.”
Amazon no longer wants to be part of the encrypted messaging services, because it got too saturated like the ugly Christmas sweater market. Amazon is killing the Wickr Me app, limiting use to business and public sectors through AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise. New registrations end on December 31 and the app will be obsolete by the end of 2023.
Wickr was worth $60 million went Amazon purchased it. Amazon, however, lost $1 trillion in stock vaguer in November 2022, becoming the first company in history to claim that “honor.” Amazon is laying off employees and working through company buyouts. Changing Wickr’s target market could recoup some of the losses:
“But AWS apparently wants Wickr to focus on its business and government customers much more than its regular users. Among those public entities using Wickr is U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That contract was reportedly worth around $900,000 when first reported in September last year. Sure, the CBP wants encrypted communications, but Wickr can delete all messages sent via the app, which is an increasingly dangerous proposition for open government advocates.”
Wickr, like other encryption services, does not have a clean record. It has been used for illegal drug sales and other illicit items via the Dark Web.
Whitney Grace, January 27, 2022
Killing Wickr
January 26, 2023
Encrypted messaging services are popular for privacy-concerned users as well as freedom fighters in authoritarian countries. Tech companies consider these messaging services to be a wise investment, so Amazon purchased Wickr in 2020. Wickr is an end-to-end encrypted messaging app and it was made available for AWS users. Gizmodo explains that Wickr will soon be nonexistent in the article, “Amazon Plans To Close Up Wickr’s User-Centric Encrypted Messaging App.”
Amazon no longer wants to be part of the encrypted messaging services, because it got too saturated like the ugly Christmas sweater market. Amazon is killing the Wickr Me app, limiting use to business and public sectors through AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise. New registrations end on December 31 and the app will be obsolete by the end of 2023.
Wickr was worth $60 million went Amazon purchased it. Amazon, however, lost $1 trillion in stock vaguer in November 2022, becoming the first company in history to claim that “honor.” Amazon is laying off employees and working through company buyouts. Changing Wickr’s target market could recoup some of the losses:
“But AWS apparently wants Wickr to focus on its business and government customers much more than its regular users. Among those public entities using Wickr is U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That contract was reportedly worth around $900,000 when first reported in September last year. Sure, the CBP wants encrypted communications, but Wickr can delete all messages sent via the app, which is an increasingly dangerous proposition for open government advocates.”
Wickr, like other encryption services, does not have a clean record. It has been used for illegal drug sales and other illicit items via the Dark Web. At one time, Wickr might have been a source of useful metadata. Not now. Odd.
Whitney Grace, January 26, 2023
Amazon: Filled with Holiday Cheer
December 27, 2022
In the modern world, Amazon is a catch-22; you can live without it but you would be hard-pressed not to. While buying a product on Amazon is usually simple, the return process is worse than a pain in the neck. A Canadian family has learned the hard way that Amazon will pull a scam whenever possible. CBC explains the frustrations in, “Family Says Amazon Shipped Fake Product, Refuses Refund Until ‘Correct Item’ Returned.”
Matthew Legault’s parents purchased him a computer as a high school graduation gift. He was excited about the present, until he took it apart and noticed the graphics card was hollowed out and filled with putty. The Legaults returned the defective computer and asked for a refund. Amazon, however, said they threw out the “computer” because it was a danger to employees. Amazon also demanded the Legaults need to ship the correct item.
Do you see where the cyclical problem is going?
The Legaults are like many unhappy Amazon customers, who are told that an item was disposed of to “end the conversation.”
What is hysterical is that Legault patriarch thinks Amazon cares about him:
“François says his history with Amazon should have stood for something — he’s been a loyal customer for years, and rarely returned anything. ‘The box had obviously been tampered with,’ he said. ‘We kind of expected that Amazon would have better quality controls, better procedures to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen.’”
HAHA!
NOPE!
Amazon is not a brick and mortar store. Amazon does not inspect anything and simply boxes returns up to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Amazon has lost revenue since the end of the COVID pandemic. The company is laying off employees.
A word of advice from the victims: take a video of yourself opening the package, so Amazon will not have any fodder against you.
The Legaults eventually got their refund when the story aired. It also helps to threaten legal action.
Is it possible that the post Bezos Amazon does not care about anyone or anything? Some more advice: order expensive products from the manufacturer’s Web site or in a physical store. Just a thought.
Whitney Grace, December 27, 2022
Microsoft and the London Stock Exchange: Lock In Maybe?
December 12, 2022
I believe everything I read on the Internet. That’s one way I keep in touch with my inner GenZ self. Sometimes, however, stories ring true; for example, “Microsoft buys Near 4% Stake in London Stock Exchange As Part of 10 Year Cloud Deal.” I read the title via my dinobaby translation system and understood, “Yep, lock in, kiddo. Oh, Amazon AWS and Google Cloud professionals. Do not bother to call us. We will call you, okay.”
You may disagree with my dinobaby translator. That’s okay. I let many flowers bloom, unlike the London Stock Exchange which goes at life in what appear to be 10 year contracts. That’s a long time in techno-cloud land in my opinion.
The write up says:
Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president for the Cloud and AI Group, will be appointed as a non-executive director of LSEG.
I wonder if he will demo Microsoft Teams egames features and the security systems for Microsoft Exchange Server? Will he offer helpful inputs to those who might want to give an off the shelf AWS Sagemaker system a spin? What about the ever reliable Google VPN service which is super reliable and in demand right now?
The answer to these questions strike me as obvious. Azure is better, faster, cheaper, more reliable, and easier. I wonder if these benefits entered into the negotiation. (Personally I like the security angle and the cheaper plus.) My instinct has a tiny voice too. It is whispering to me, “Microsoft will deliver premier service to the London Stock Exchange when (which is unlikely) the system Azure system hiccups.
I noted this passage too:
Microsoft and LSEG will also work together in developing new professional collaboration tools. LSEG has developed a product called Workspace, a data and analytics platform. The two companies will be working on advancing this product and integrating it with Microsoft Teams, the firm’s messaging app.
I am tempted to reference the source of the stake, but I won’t. The parties involved make content marketing hay around the “trust” word.
I have a couple of observations:
- Microsoft has added a neon underline to the old marketing concept of “lock in.”
- The Redmond security giant can point to a big time financial customer and market its secure cloud solutions. Well, they are secure… at this time.
- The Amazon and Google cloud professionals will definitely find a way to respond.
Net net: Isn’t it wonderful that big tech innovation involves owning financial plumbing and access?
Stephen E Arnold, December 12, 2022
Amazon Innovation: Me Too, Me Too
December 12, 2022
I read “Amazon Comes for TikTok with Its Own In App Shopping Feed.” The main idea is that me too appears to be a driver of technological and product innovation at the world’s mom and pop online store. The write up states:
The online retail giant has announced Inspire(opens in new tab), a new short-form video experience that allows consumers to explore and buy products through a shoppable feed…
But wait there’s more to the crack Amazon technologists’ pioneering breakthroughs:
Amazon’s Inspire adds photos to the mix, giving users more ways to discover products they may like from various content creators, brands, and even other customers.
What I found interesting is that Amazon has discovered that a mobile first strategy makes sense. What an astounding market insight! Who knew other than Google, app developers, large telcos, and outfits making mobile phones. Other than those few segments, the mobile revolution has gone unnoticed until now.
The write up points out that Amazon may tap influencers to pitch its new, breath taking service. My thought is that stressed out Twitch content creators could be induced to pitch the Amazon’s Eureka moment with more money from the mom and pop online retailer.
My reaction to this shotgun hook up of TikTok and the Zucker’s Instagram is that Amazon has achieved quantum mobile supremacy. Oh, wait. That supremacy claim is one that Google likes to use.
Amazon will come up with some brilliant Mad Ave lingo. I am thinking “next day delivery” or “customer service.” Oh, wait…
Stephen E Arnold, December 12, 2022
Collusion? What Do You Mean Collusion?
November 30, 2022
Ah what wise and ethical firms we have at the top of the tech food chain. MacRumors reports, “Amazon and Apple ‘Colluded’ to Make iPhone and iPad More Expensive, Says Antitrust Lawsuit.” The complaint alleges the companies conspired to kick third-party vendors of Apple products from Amazon’s marketplace in order to escalate prices and keep them aloft. Did they think no one would notice? We learn:
“There were around 600 third-party sellers of Apple devices on Amazon Marketplace, which was whittled down to just seven. Amazon began eliminating third-party sellers after it signed a 2019 deal with Apple to limit the number of resellers on Amazon marketplace to 20 per country. In exchange, Apple provided Amazon with a discounted wholesale price for iPhones and iPads. By restricting third-party sellers from offering Apple products, Amazon made itself the dominant seller of Apple products on Amazon Marketplace, which Amazon and Apple both ‘stood to benefit from’ even though it ‘would harm the public.’ The lawsuit claims that prior to the agreement, third-party resellers were offering ‘prices steeply discounted’ from those Apple wanted to have for its online storefront, which resulted in lower prices for consumers.”
That does look bad. But wait, there is an important caveat:
“There is no word on specific devices that went up in price due to the agreement, and no explanation of whether sellers were offering older devices or current products, nor if these were refurbished devices.”
Those would be key distinctions. The write-up does not mention (though commenters have) that purveyors of stolen and counterfeit goods are known to operate through Amazon. Were any of them among the approximately 590 sellers axed? We may never know.
The suit requests an injunction forcing Amazon to allow third-party Apple sellers back on and to reimburse customers who it claims overpaid by as much as 20%. We are curious to see how this lawsuit plays out.
Cynthia Murrell, November 30, 2022
Amazon: The Bezos Bulldozer Shoves Customers and Crushes Competitors
November 11, 2022
The myth of the enlightened technology company led by an ethical, socially-minded leadership team seems to be dissipating like fog in a Kentucky hollow on a spring morning. Whether it was the craziness of blue and gray checks on Twitter or the public confessions of the Zuck, there is mounting evidence that knowledge of programming does not translate into effective management. In our nifty money centric country, money means brilliance, leadership skills, wisdom, and a quantum link to JP Morgan, Jay Gould, Andrew Carnegie, et al.
I want to shift from the public chaos to an interesting article from a Silicon Valley type of “real” news outfit. The article which caught my attention is “Basically Everything on Amazon Has Become an Ad.” The write up reveals that Amazon is not an old-fashioned Sears catalog. Nope, Amazon is a more expensive variant of eBay. I noted:
Amazon has designs to boost its ad business to new heights by selling more video commercials on Amazon properties like the video game livestreaming service Twitch and during live sporting events streamed on Prime Video; and by offering audio ads on Amazon Music. The company has also invested heavily in in-house software tools that allow brands to purchase highly targeted ads around the web.
The write up then misses what I think is the main thrust of the Bezos bulldozer. The article states:
Amazon has become a power player in yet another industry, adding advertising to a list that already includes e-commerce, logistics, entertainment, cloud computing, and voice assistants.
Sort of like other close-enough-for-horseshoes’ analysis.
The direction at Amazon is institutionalizing dark patterns. Users/customers think one thing, and the company is moving them like cattle in a Chicago stock yard to the meat packing plant.
Advertising is manipulative communication. Consider these methods at Amazon:
- Complex pricing mechanisms within AWS
- Lack of transparency about the data flowing into its commercial database business
- Functionality provided to certain government agencies within the Amazon Government regions and clouds
- Functionality within “free” music designed to create a need for a more expensive version of the service so users can create playlists.
There are other dark patterns as well. (I won’t mention the security mechanism for certain AWS cloud services which are extra cost options, not the default.)
Net net: More attention may be warranted by regulatory entities in the US and other countries. The Bezos bulldozer is reshaping landscapes, and everyone thinks that these “developments” are good for everyone. How many rabbits and squirrels are crushed by the Bezos bulldozers each day? Give up. The answer is a lot. Who wants to give up the one-click service, the subscription to common products, and the mythical one-day delivery?
Stephen E Arnold, November 11, 2022
Amazon: An Ecosystem in Which Some Bad Actors Thrive
October 6, 2022
Wow! Who knew? I must admit that I have developed what I call a “Hypothetical Ecommerce Crime Ecosystem.” Because I am an old, dinobaby, I have not shared my musings in this semi entertaining Web log. I do relatively few “public” talks. I am careful not to be “volunteered” for a local networking meet up like those organized by the somewhat ineffectual “chamber of commerce” in central Kentucky. Plus, I am never sure if those with whom I speak are “into” ecosystems of crime. Sure, last week I gave a couple of boring lectures to a few law enforcement, crime analysts, and government senior officials. But did the light bulbs flashing during and after my talk impair my vision. Nah.
I did read a write up which nibbles around the edges of my diagram for my hypothetical crime ecosystem. “There’s an Underground Market Where Secondhand Amazon Merchant Accounts Are Bought and Sold for Thousands of Dollars” asserts as 100 percent actual factual:
An Insider investigation revealed a thriving gray market for secondhand Amazon seller accounts. On Telegram and forums like Swapd and PlayerUp, thousands of brokers openly sell accounts, with prices ranging from a few hundred bucks for a new account to thousands of dollars apiece for years-old accounts with established histories. … The accounts sometimes steal random people’s identities to disguise themselves, and sellers are using these fake credentials to engage in questionable behavior on Amazon, Insider found — including selling counterfeit textbooks. The people’s whose names and addresses are being stolen are sometimes then sent hundreds of returns by unhappy customers.
Is there other possibly inappropriate activity on the Amazon giant bookstore? The write up says:
Merchants have used shady tactics like submitting false fraud reports targeting rivals, or bribing Amazon employees to scuttle competitors. Others peddle counterfeit or shoddily produced wares. Amazon bans fraudulent sellers, along with other accounts they’re suspected of owning, and blacklists their business name, physical location, and IP address.
Okay, but why?
My immediate reaction is money. May I offer a few speculations about such ecosystem centric behavior? You say, No. Too bad. Here are my opinions:
- Amazon does basic cost benefit analyses. The benefit is the amount of money Amazon gets to keep. The cost is the sum of the time, effort, and direct outflow of cash required to monitor and terminate what might be called the Silicon Valley way. (Yeah, I know Amazon like Microsoft is in some state in the US Northwest, but the spirit of the dudes and dudettes in Silicon Valley knows no geographic boundaries. Did you notice the “con” in “silicon.” Coincidence?
- Bad actors know a thriving ecosystem when they see one. Buy stolen products from a trusted third party, and who worries to much about where the person in the white van obtained them. Pay the driver, box ‘em up, and ship out those razors and other goods easily stolen from assorted brick-and-mortar stores in certain US locations; for example, the Walgreen’s in Tony Bennett’s favorite city.
- The foil of third party intermediaries makes it easy for everyone in the ecosystem to say, “Senator, thank you for the question. I do not know the details of our firm’s business relationship. I will obtain the information and send a report to your office.” When? Well, maybe struggling FedEx or the Senate’s internal mail system lost the report. Bummer. Just request another copy, rinse, and repeat. The method has worked for a couple of decades. Don’t fix it if the system is not broken.
What’s interesting about my “Hypothetical Ecommerce Crime Ecosystem” in my opinion is:
- Plausible deniability is baked in
- Those profiting from exploitation of the Amazon money rain forest have zero incentive or downside to leave the system as it is. Change costs money and — let’s face it — there have been zero significant downsides to the status quo for decades. Yep, decades.
- Enforcement resources are stretched at this time. Thus, what I call “soft fraud” is easier than ever to set up and embed in business processes.
Is the cited article correct? Sure, I believe everything I read online, including Amazon reviews of wireless headphones and cheap T shirts.
Is my analysis correct? I don’t know. I am probably wrong and I am too old, too worn out, too jaded to do much more than ask, “Is that product someone purchased on Amazon an original, unfenced item?”
Stephen E Arnold, October 6, 2022
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