Not an unreasonable assumption, considering their popularity and the fact that people DO use them.

they do! for me, anyway.

i bought an echo dot on a whim, since it's so cheap, assuming it'd be fun to play with, but not very useful.

to my surprise, it's really handy. setting timers, adding food to the shopping list, and playing music are all super-convenient with alexa. turning lights on and off with her is fun too, although i admit, it was already a fairly easy task to do using a conventional, physical switch. :-)

Considering their enduring popularity in mass-appeal science-fiction constructs (stories, movies etc), I'm pretty sure they do have "something to offer".

I want one sounding like EDI from massefect II and II or Orac from Blakes 7