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There's been a lot of discussion about Amazon's AI revamp of its voice assistant Alexa and its expected subscription fees, but the e-commerce giant has said very little about a launch date. A new report confirms that it will be available in October and will require a subscription.
Plus: 5 ways Amazon is making its AI-powered Alexa subscription worth the cost
The new and improved Alexa, powered by gen AI, is set to launch in just over a month, later than reported in September earlier this year. It will be a paid alternative voice assistant to the version currently available for free, which Amazon calls “Classic Alexa” in internal documents obtained by The Washington Post. The report said subscription fees for the new virtual assistant, dubbed “Remarkable Alexa,” could be as high as $10 per month.
With the Alexa gen AI feature, Amazon will give its popular artificial intelligence assistant the ability to generate content, rather than repeating answers to commands it's trained in. For example, instead of searching for recipes, Alexa could create a recipe customized to your dietary restrictions or use ingredients you have in your pantry.
You can also compose text, such as stories, emails, poems, songs, etc. Kids can ask Alexa to create a story about their dog and hear a new bedtime story starring them. That's amazing if, like me, you've exhausted Alexa's story catalogue.
Plus: Echo Pop vs Echo Dot: Which Alexa smart speaker should you choose?
In addition to next-generation AI capabilities, the new Alexa can converse more naturally with users, answer follow-up questions, and use a more human-sounding voice. In the report, Amazon said, “AI capabilities that help customers curate, summarize, and explore current events also ranked as one of the most common customer requests.”
Amazon demonstrated the capabilities of its new voice assistant during its Devices and Services event, announcing that Alexa will have next-generation AI capabilities in September 2023. The announcement comes after a year of explosive growth in AI technology marked by the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.
Since OpenAI's chatbot became widely available, Microsoft and Google have released their own AI chatbots, Copilot and Gemini, increasing pressure to improve existing virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, which perform poorly in comparison to AI tools like ChatGPT.
Also, ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot vs Gemini: Which is the Best AI Chatbot?
Apple announced the release of Apple Intelligence in June, a set of AI features including an improved Siri with ChatGPT integration, coming to new iPhones, iPads and Macs. The service is expected to be widely available in 2025. Google is also gradually upgrading Google Assistant, rebranded as Gemini, with AI, but this is also not yet widely available.
Using ChatGPT's voice feature on your iPhone is easy, but it's limited to the app, so we understand the need for an AI-powered virtual assistant. ChatGPT can't control your phone, send messages, call someone, or create shortcuts in various apps like assistants like Siri or Google can. Unlike Alexa, ChatGPT can't control your smart home or run automations that turn off lights at night or turn on devices when the lights are on.
