AIRA & Alexa Rescue

By Wendy Edey

In the age of AI will we have any use for humans? Recently I had an opportunity to explore this question. While I was away on vacation, Amazon entered my suite without my permission and kidnapped Alexa. They said it was an update. It looked like a kidnapping to me, because Alexa was no longer allowed to speak to me. My smart speakers had gone dumb and my thermostat would not change the temperature when I gave it voice commands. What was I to do?

Believing that nothing is impossible, I spent some hours in a frenzy of unplugging and re-plugging, disconnecting and reconnecting launching and cancelling and accepting and using language I’ll not repeat here. It didn’t matter about the language because Alexa couldn’t listen. Exhausted at last, I went to bed, knowing that it was spring, the season when one is unlikely to freeze or roast in a high rise suite. 

The problem here is that Alexa is only inadvertently accessible to blind people. To keep her going, you have to be able to read, or wait for a sighted human with the time and patience to deal with the situation.  

After raging for a few days I picked up my iPhone, pointed the back camera at the thermostat screen and called AIRA. After only two rings I got a real live human on the line.

Human: “This is Scott. What would you like to do today?”

Me: “I’d like to fix whatever is wrong with my thermostat.”

Scott: “Move your phone back and up so I can see the screen. Oh yes. Your thermostat has been disconnected from Alexa. There’s a re-link button. Do you want to press it?”

AIRA is an American company that uses your iPhone to provide visual interpreting services for people who cannot see. Their employees are well equipped and well trained. Since 2018 I’ve been paying about $30 a month for 30 monthly minutes of interpretive time. They throw in some free minutes for short calls. This gives me the privilege of calling people like Scott. Calling is the next best thing to living with a sighted person. Usually it’s the simple stuff: “What is in this can?” or “did I get all the blood off my dress?” Sometimes it’s more complicated.

Scott: “Move your finger up, now to the left. Not that far, lift your finger so I can see the button. Now touch it.”

Me: “Are we set then?”

Scott: “Afraid not. There’s a barcode on the screen.”

Me: “what can I do with that?”

Scott: “Hmmm! I’ll take a picture of it and see what I can do on my computer. Oh, now I am on the Amazon website but I can’t sign in to your account without your credentials.”

Me: “Let me go to my secret place and get the credentials. Don’t look. They are secret.” I had intended to make him laugh but then I remembered that we were using the back-facing camera and he couldn’t see my face and didn’t know me. He wouldn’t laugh because he is a trained professional. 

Me: “I’m here and here are my credentials.” I read them and he entered them into his computer.

Scott: “I’m in now and they’ve sent you an email.”

Me: “I don’t want to risk losing our connection so I’ll go to the computer and pick up the email.”

There was an email from Amazon. It said: someone in North Carolina is trying to access your account. Follow this link if you are giving permission. I followed the link and checked a box.

Scott: “I have permission now.” 

Me: “Are we done then?”

Scott: “Not quite. They want me to enter a code that might be on your thermostat screen. Okay, move the phone up. There it is. 1bQ58PR37JaP44. I’ll have to take a picture of it.” I could hear him repeating it under his breath as he tried to enter it correctly. 

Me: “Is that all we need?”

Scott: “Not quite. I think you might have another relink button on your thermostat. Now there it is.  Move the phone up, and back, and your finger up, no down, and then lift it, and now tap.”

Thermostat in the voice of Alexa: “Hello Wendy!”

Me to Scott: “Thank you!”

Thermostat: “You’re welcome.” 

Scott, now laughing: “Is there anything else you would like to do?” 

We ended the call then, and that is how I finally got permission to let a stranger in North Carolina rescue Alexa from the clutches of Amazon who kidnapped her without getting permission from me. The process with Scott took seven minutes and thirty-one seconds.

When the joy of being able to set the temperature faded into annoyance with the situation in general, I ate some chocolate. Chocolate, I’ve found, fixes many things. So do humans.