Jordan O'BrienThe Nvidia Shield TV, coupled with the Nvidia Spot, was one of the highlights of CES 2017. Its powerful internals make it a great set-top box and gaming device, while the implementation of the Google Assistant and SmartThings made it ideal as a central smart home hub. The Google Assistant may not be the only smart AI that comes to the Nvidia Shield TV however, with the company not ruling out the possibility for Alexa integration in the future.
It may seem odd for a company creating the first Android TV set-top box with hands-free Google Assistant control to flirt with the idea of Alexa integration, but it’s definitely not out of character for Nvidia. After all, the Nvidia Shield TV is the only Android TV device to have access to the Amazon Video service – so the company has already shown a willingness to work with the retail giant.
Despite the openness, no decision has been made yet. “It’s an Android TV box, so it it makes sense to focus on Google Assistant at present,” notes Nvidia’s director of technical product marketing, Sridhar Ramaswamy, at a Shield preview event. “But Shield has always been an open product, so that doesn’t mean we’ve ruled out other platforms. I wouldn’t rule out Alexa.”
The Nvidia Shield TV was designed from the outset to be an open-sourced device, so even if Nvidia make the ultimate decision to stick with the Google Assistant, it doesn’t stop users from hacking their own boxes to add Alexa. After all, the Nvidia Shield TV has already been given the Kodi treatment, turned into a retro gaming console and even turned into a web browsing box using the Chrome browser.
As for the near-future, it’s unlikely that Alexa will be officially supported on the Nvidia Shield TV anytime soon. The Google Assistant isn’t even going to be available when the device ships later this month, so for now Nvidia will simply be watching how the market takes shape and will be listening to see what its customers want.