Asking your Amazon Echo speaker questions could now result in ads rather than actual answers or advice. | Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
A new Alexa feature has been announced at the Amazon Accelerate conference called “Customers Ask Alexa,” which allows brands to submit their own answers to questions you may ask the device.
One such example was “How can I remove pet hair from my carpet?” which would usually provide generic tips or advice pulled from the web. Now, as reported by TechCrunch, brands can submit their own answers (presumably in the form of recommending their own products) and link the inquirer to their Amazon storefront.
Popping ads into top search results is nothing new, of course. It’s a huge part of Google’s business, and Apple has grown more aggressive with…
