Alexa was one of the pioneering names in the nascent voice assistant segment many years ago. However, its fate was very different from that of Google Assistant. While Google continued to invest heavily in Assistant, Amazon’s platform remained stagnant in terms of functionality. That said, a new report has revealed some of the capabilities that Alexa could offer after its rumored AI upgrade.
Amazon’s Alexa AI upgrade could make the assistant notably smarter
Rumors about an AI-powered Alexa have been in the news for a long time. After a long wait, it could become official very soon. Amazon could announce it as early as February 26 during the company’s next product launch event. Now, Reuters has provided additional details on the improvements that the assistant could include.
The Claude AI models reportedly power Amazon’s Alexa AI upgrade. This makes sense considering that the e-commerce giant has invested $8 billion in Claude’s parent company, Anthropic. The integration with the LLM could allow the company’s assistant to become noticeably “smarter.”
Currently, Alexa can only handle simple commands at once. However, the upgraded version could be able to handle multiple prompts. Not only that, but it could also remember your preferences. For example, the assistant could remember your favorite songs or a restaurant you usually order food from. This would streamline things both for personalized recommendations and for performing related tasks.
According to the report, you could ask the new Alexa to order a burger for you and then add an additional prompt (such as asking it to change the ingredients) before the order is sent. Alexa could also offer “agent” capabilities to act on your behalf under certain situations.
You could have to pay a monthly fee
The commercial name of Amazon’s Alexa AI upgrade is still unknown. However, it won’t be free, as the company may charge between $5 and $10 a month for the experience. “Classic Alexa” will still be available for free, though, but without any new features. Amazon may offer a free trial of the AI-powered assistant as well.
One of Amazon’s biggest problems with Alexa has been profitability. The firm has failed to make money from the service. Bank of America analysts projected that the company could generate about $600 million annually if 10% of Alexa’s current user base subscribes to the service for $5 a month. This could be a great solution to the profitability problem.
