I use Google Home and it has a voice match feature which will only accept on commands for allowed voices. Some people might not like this for the privacy aspect though.
Of course this is all academic. Anyone can get into a home via the windows. It's just that half of all Americans live in a home that has a gun, so getting out alive might not be as easy as getting in.
Alarms, timers for the kids, playing music all day, asking for knowledge questions, etc. For example yesterday my kids asked "which is after a tortoise or a snail". The kids use it a lot because they don't have phones to google stuff but they always have Alexa to ask.
I don't know the answer, but i wonder why you say that's what people want, since the high end BMW and Audi and Mercedes cars etc now all have their own voice commands to _avoid_ using the touchscreen (presumably for driving).
I wonder how they even get a survey that's representative.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/29/apple-carplay-massive-succes...
Do you have an uncommon accent?
The only good use case I've seen is if you're having a conversation / debate with someone you can use them as a real-time fact checker.
Setting multiple named alarms while cooking and often my hands are not clean to handle a phone or they're holding something going in an oven or they're stirring something.
Adding things to Todo lists or shopping lists as I notice them.
Setting alarms when I set a cup of tea to brew so I don't forget about it. I have to walk back to the room to stop it ringing, which means I can add milk and pick up my tea.
Changing what I'm listening to while washing dishes.
I'm already distractible enough, not having to pick up my phone to do them also means I'm less likely to get distracted.
There are just so many buttons to push, it's not only about lights. Remember, they have 'routines' that can easily equate to dozens of button pushes. Even without routines, I can tell it to set all lights in a room at some percentage. And no, I can't just wire a dimmer, because they are spread across light fixtures. Sometimes your hands are busy and it's good to be able to control stuff.
If anything, they should make it easier to add commands (I want to be able to change 3D printer settings without have to fiddle with the interface – it's connected to Homeassistant so it has access to controls).
It's not just for that either. Alarms, timers, unit conversions, translations, calls from echo to echo in different rooms, weather at some location, purchases (and asking where are they)... you can even ask if some food can be given to your dog.
I will agree that it's infuriating when they don't work. And it doesn't seem to difficult to fix. There are commands I use frequently, chances are I am using them again. Asking to turn of the lights and having it play some random song is ridiculous.
What do dedicated hardware devices like Alexa add above and beyond that? They have a nicer speaker for playing music, but there's a whole ecosystem of bluetooth speakers you can use your phone with. They can control smart lightbulbs which I think phones don't have the right antenna for... but it feels like that could be solved by a $20 Chromecast-like dongle that your phone talks to over wifi. Is there anything else left to justify separate hardware, especially hardware that's likely sold break-even or at a loss?
In my experience you learn how to make them do 1-2 things. You learn a few patterns. But beyond that, even if they work 95% of the time, that 1 in 20 is annoying enough to make me not want to use it and just push a few buttons.
Maybe case in point is using voice in the car. It should be the best, most obvious application. Yet aside from maybe texting, people want things like Apple CarPlay - a big touchscreen - not voice commands.