"Alexa, repeal my taxes"
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is expected to announce a new corporate edition of its Alexa digital assistant at its annual shareholder meeting today, aimed squarely at the growing market of giant corporations whose hunger for tax cuts wasn’t sated by last year's multibillion dollar federal giveaway.
CEO Jeff Bezos will show off the early results of the $25,000 the company invested in Amazon Prime Directive, an Alexa skill designed to control the laws passed by the city of Seattle. This is a beta release, and tech support advises that any issues with the city not following orders can generally be resolved by turning off construction then turning it back on again.
The market potential of Amazon Prime Directive is huge, with the $25,000 prototype alone bringing potential revenue of $11 million in reduced spending on affordable housing and services for homeless people — a return on investment of more than 400 times. The reach of the upcoming HQ2 edition could be far larger, as the communities where big businesses do business are directed not to interfere with the development of corporate profit.
Amazon booked $178 billion in 2017 revenue, and is expecting an additional $789 million in free revenue from the last year's federal tax cut. CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest human in the world, lives in Medina, Washington.