Amazon's Alexa has undergoes his greatest overhaul since he makes his debut more than ten years ago.
On Wednesday, Amazon said that Alexa gave a new brain, powered by generative artificial intelligence. The update, called Alexa+, is set to make the virtual assistant more conversation and useful when booking concert tickets, coordinating calendars and suggesting food to be supplied. Alexa+ costs $ 19.99 per month or is admitted for customers who pay for the Prime membership program of Amazon. It will roll out next month.
“Until the precisely at the moment, exactly at the moment, we are limited by the technology,” said Panos Panay, the head of Amazon's devices, during a media event. “Alexa+ is that familiar assistant who can help you lead your life and your home.”
With the changes, Amazon wants to catch up in generative AI for everyday users. Although the Seattle company has made up for lost time in recent months in AI products and services that it sells to companies and other organizations, the grip on AI products from consumers has been narrower. Alexa's Upgrades, which were teased for the first time in 2023, are the largest gamble in Amazon to become a force in consumers AI
The movements are also an opportunity to restart Alexa, which is experienced that it has fallen on other virtual assistants. Alexa growth in the United States in recent years has generally stagnated, according to the research agency Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, where people turn to the assistant for just a few main tasks, such as setting timers and alarms, playing music and asking questions about the weather and sports scores.
During Wednesday's event, Mr. Panay and other Amazon managers showed how Alexa+ could do those things in a more personalized way. Alexa+ could identify who spoke and knew the preferences of the person, such as favorite sports teams, musicians and foods, they said. They also showed how a device driven by Alexa+ could suggest a restaurant, could book a reservation on an Ober order and send a calendar invitation.
Alexa, a brainchild of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, debuted in 2014 and blew with his ability to take verbal requests and translate them into actions. It became a symbol of the innovation of Amazon. Over the years, the company has emphasized some Alexa-connected devices, including Echo speakers, a connected microwave, a wall clock and a teddy bear.
But wanted to have had experiments since Mr Bezos had been abandoned in 2021 as Chief Executive of Amazon and the company handed over to Andy Jassy, an old manager. Mr. Jassy rode in the editions of Amazon, killed some projects that did not seem to have clear prospects and supervised dismissals. In 2023 he rented Mr. Panay, a Microsoft director, to supervise devices.
Mr. Panay's highest responsibility was to bring generative AI to Alexa and to unlock the promise of the full-helpful assistant who had presented Amazon for a long time. Shortly after Mr. Panay started, Amazon said that the Alexa's brain rebuilt with the kind of technologies that were the basis on the Chatgpt -Chatbot of OpenAi.
“The re-architecture of the whole of Alexa happened,” said Mr. Panay on Wednesday.
While Amazon worked to update Alexa, competitors jumped over. Chatgpt can, for example, have extensive, in-depth conversations, in which some people even develop emotional and even sexual relationships with AI-Personas.
(The New York Times has sued OpenAi and his partner, Microsoft, and claims infringement of the copyright of news content with regard to AI systems. The companies have refused the claims.)
Taking generative AI to Alexa was not easy because the virtual assistant stands for challenges that a chatbot does not do. For example, Alexa can operate multiple users in a household, so it must distinguish who is speaking.
Amazon also wants Alexa to be central to people's lives and is connected to several smart devices, which is complicated. Rohit Prasad, which leads the development of Amazon's AI systems, said last year in an interview that he had 23 different devices, such as Smart Lightbulbs, controlled by his Alexa system.
“It is extremely difficult to do that well, with high reliability, every day,” he said.
Generative AI is also affected by 'hallucinations', or when the AI systems serve incorrect information. Because Alexa deals with the real world – playing a song, ordering a product, eliminating an alarm – customers must see Alexa as a reliable assistant, Mr. Prasad said.
“You can't afford the kind of hallucination rates that can happen if you perform your light switches,” he said.
