Amazon is adding generative artificial intelligence to its ten-year-old Alexa voice assistant and intends to charge a monthly subscription fee to defray the expense of the upgrade.
According to a report citing sources with knowledge of Amazon’s intentions, the online retail behemoth will release a more conversational version of the voice assistant later this year, better positioned it to compete with AI-powered chatbots from Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google.
According to one insider, Amazon has not yet decided on a price for its Alexa membership, which will not be part of the $139-per-year Prime offering.
Although Alexa’s voice-activated chores stunned customers in 2014, given the subsequent advancements in artificial intelligence, its capabilities may seem antiquated.
GPT-4o, which OpenAI unveiled last week, can have two-way conversations that are far more in-depth than those with Alexa. For instance, it has real-time language translation capabilities for discussions. Google released a voice capability for Gemini that is based on generative AI.
NYU professor Scott Galloway labeled recent improvements as potential threats to Siri and Alexa in a podcast, impacting their roles in everyday tasks like weather updates and setting alarms.
According to the sources, a business that was formerly considered a pet of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is under more pressure internally due to the development of new AI chatbots in recent months. However, since Bezos’ departure, the division has been subject to strong profit imperatives.
Since its 2014 launch, Amazon has yet to be able to turn a profit on Alexa consistently; instead, customers are being directed to the company’s website to make more purchases.
In an effort to draw consumers, it added generative artificial intelligence to its Alexa voice assistant in September of last year. In November, the business eliminated “several hundred” positions from its Alexa voice assistant division.
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