I wonder how many people are actually using these voice systems. In public, obviously zero. Ok google was convenient for a while while driving, but I havnt used it for months.

Are these alexa/home gimmicks?

Id have to see reviews, quality, stats, visualize a purchase which is not easy to do over a speaker.

Turning of the light is already in the palm of your hand. I have a smaller 12 room house, light switches are right by the door of each room. Convenience might be to turn off all the lights in the house at once as I forget to turn off one or two most of the time. That would still cost a small fortune to replace all the bulbs.