Amazon on Wednesday showed off Alexa+, a generative AI version of its digital voice assistant that draws on a variety of models and works with many of the company’s older Echo devices.
Why it matters: Amazon has been working for several years to modernize Alexa, though the effort has been bumpy as the company looks to maximize compatibility with the past.
The big picture: Amazon and Apple — early players in the voice assistant space — have been struggling to merge their older products with the latest generative AI.
- Apple is due to release an update to Siri that expands its capabilities, but Bloomberg reports that it will be delayed due to bugs.
Follow the money: Alexa+ will be available in late March and cost $19.99 per month on its own — but it’s free for Amazon Prime customers.
- Prime costs less — and includes streaming video and music and free shipping for purchases — so that’s a much more attractive deal.
State of play: In demos at a press event in New York, Amazon executives showed Alexa+ doing a variety of tasks, including ordering groceries, analyzing documents and making up stories.
- Alexa+ will also be able to navigate the web on its own to handle some tasks, Amazon said.
- Amazon says Alexa+ is more flexible in how it handles the wording of user requests, such as playing music or controlling smart home devices.
Zoom in: Alexa+ will work with a number of service partners, including GrubHub, OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Yelp, Thumbtack, Vagaro, Fodor’s, TripAdvisor, Uber, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and Max.
- It will work with a range of devices including those from Philips Hue, Roborock and Lutron.
- Alexa+ will also get a new mobile app and a dedicated website for accomplishing longer tasks.
Between the lines: Amazon said Alexa+ uses a number of AI models, including Amazon’s own Nova and ones from Amazon’s close partner Anthropic, among others.
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