Jefferson Graham

USA TODAY

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version gave the wrong year Amazon won Emmys for Transparent.

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — The emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning in household gadgets is “gigantic,” according to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

Speaking to the Code conference here, Bezos, whose company has a hit on its hand with the Echo connected speaker, said, “it’s hard to overstate how big of an impact this will have on society over the next 20 years. It is big. It doesn’t mean phones are going to go away or that voice actions will replace screens. As long as people have eyes, they have screens.”

The Echo speaker can turn on lights, access online music and answer queries by waking the speaker by stating the word Alexa. Amazon hasn't revealed sales stats, but says the product is hard to keep in stock. Bezos said Amazon has 1,000 people working on Alexa and the Echo.

“It has been a dream from the early days of sci-fi to have a computer to talk to, and that’s coming true," said Bezos.

The success of Amazon’s Echo has struck a chord with competitors. Google will release a similar product, Google Home, later in the year, and Apple is said to be looking to launch a connected speaker as well.

Bezos: 'Star Trek' was inspiration for Amazon Echo





According to Bezos, “this is the first inning … there is so much more to come. We’re the first guys up to bat. We’re on the edge of a golden era.”

Sentiments that AI is the next big thing were echoed Wednesday at the same conference. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company senses a shift happening in AI three or four years ago, and made a transformation internally. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates called AI "the holy grail."

GOLDEN GLOBES HELP SHOE SALES

Amazon swung to a profit on $29 billion in sales in the first quarter, mostly due to its core online retail business and its fast-growing cloud operations. But it's been pushing hard into entertainment, which Bezos said benefits the retail business.

Amazon Studios has been making its mark in Hollywood, where it's competing with Netflix to offer first-run programming for streaming. Amazon's Transparent won five Emmys last year, including best lead actor for Jeffrey Tambor's performance, and Amazon is set to release Woody Allen's latest film in theaters. The director is also producing a comedy series for Amazon's Prime members.

Bezos said that Prime Video has been a great driver to both help renew subscriptions to the Prime membership, which offers video streaming and faster shipping, and sell more products as well.

"We get to monetize content in a different way," he said. "When you win a Golden Globe, it helps you sell more shoes. Prime members buy more on Amazon than non-Prime members."

Bezos, the world's fifth richest person, according to Forbes, at $45 billion, has also been an investor beyond Amazon in many companies, including the Washington Post, Airbnb, Twitter, Uber, Business Insider, Nextdoor and aerospace company Blue Origin.

HAVE A THICK SKIN

As the owner of the Post, Bezos was asked where he stood on a newly-revealed media battle — investor Peter Thiel's bankrolling of the Hulk Hogan libel lawsuit against Gawker Media.

Bezos said he stood on the side of press freedom.

"As a public figure, the best defense to speech you don’t like is to develop a thick skin. You can’t stop it. If you’re doing anything interesting in the world, you’re going to have critics. If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting."

Facebook: Thiel acted on own

Follow USA TODAY tech columnist and #TalkingTech host Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham.