What is The News About?
Those in the know about Amazon’s plans say that the company intends to implement generative artificial intelligence into its Alexa voice assistant, which has been around for a decade, and that a monthly membership fee will be implemented to cover the expense of the technology. Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated assistant, impressed customers in 2014, but in light of AI advancements, its features may appear dated. Unlike Alexa, OpenAI’s new GPT-4o can hold in-depth, two-way conversations, which they unveiled this week. As an example, it can translate talks into many languages instantly. Google introduced a speech function for Gemini that is comparable, driven by generative AI.
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New AI chatbots have put more pressure on an internal division that was previously beloved by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to the sources. However, since Bezos’s departure, the division has been subject to stringent business imperatives. A trio of departing workers brought up Bezos’s early fixation on Alexa, saying it was his pet project. With Bezos’s guidance, we were able to attract more investors and reduce the urgency to recoup our investment costs.
Why Is It Important?
A new premium subscription plan and an overhaul of Alexa were initially mentioned by Business Insider in 2024. David Limp, who was previously Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services, revealed to The Verge in September that the tech giant was contemplating implementing a premium pricing tier for an enhanced Alexa. Some saw last week’s releases as an attack on Apple’s voice assistant features for iPhones, Alexa and Siri. A lecturer at New York University, Scott Galloway, recently referred to the upgrades as the “Alexa and Siri killers” in a podcast he did. Basic functions like announcing the weather and setting alarms and timers are common uses for Alexa and Siri.
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That, according to three insiders, changed in 2021 when Andy Jassy became CEO. They alleged that Alexa was given less internal attention when Jassy was tasked with downsizing Amazon’s operations during the pandemic. One source claims that Jassy has been privately dissatisfied with the capabilities of modern-day Alexa. A source close to the Alexa team revealed that they were concerned about developing an expensive alarm clock, weather machine, and method to play music from Spotify. For example, someone in the audience said that Jassy, a huge sports fan, asked Alexa for the live score of a recent game and was visibly irritated that she couldn’t locate the answer online.
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Amazon referred all inquiries for a comment to last month’s annual shareholder letter. Jassy said in it that “an even more intelligent and capable Alexa” was one of a “substantial number of GenAI applications across every Amazon consumer business.” The group’s new mission is to make Alexa an effective tool that can compete with emerging AI systems and prove worthy of the manpower and money Amazon has invested in it. All three accounts agree that there has been a shakeup, with many members moving to the AGI (artificial general intelligence) group. Some have suggested that Alexa’s staff of thousands is too large.
More than 500 million Alexa-enabled devices were sold by Amazon as of 2023, solidifying the company’s position in the market.
Benefits
1. Implementing generative AI in Alexa will enhance conversational abilities, offering richer and more interactive user experiences.
2. A premium subscription for Alexa will fund advanced AI features, providing users with cutting-edge technology and improved functionality.
3. AI-driven upgrades to Alexa will help Amazon maintain its competitive edge, ensuring the voice assistant remains relevant and innovative.
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