Amazon plans to launch a new premium version of Alexa in October, codenamed "Remarkable Alexa" or "Project Banyan." This upgraded voice assistant will feature more advanced AI capabilities, aiming to compete with new AI assistants from companies like OpenAI and Google.
Image source: Picture generated by AI, provided by Midjourney
According to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post, a key feature of the new Alexa is the "Smart Brief," which provides users with personalized daily news summaries. Although the launch of this feature has raised some questions about the accuracy of AI in handling political news, especially in the context of the upcoming US presidential election, Amazon is still pushing forward.
The subscription fee for this new Alexa is expected to be $10 per month, while the existing "Classic Alexa" version will remain free. Amazon executives plan to finalize the specific pricing, subscription structure, and product name within this month.
The new version of Alexa will not only be more conversational and interactive but will also learn to recognize different voices, actively ask about user preferences, and provide more personalized assistance. Other new features include improved recipe recommendations and AI-driven shopping tools.
At the same time, Amazon is also developing a web product called "Project Metis," aiming to directly compete with large language model tools like ChatGPT. Given the pressure from competitors, this step is particularly important for Amazon.
Amazon has already invested $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic, but they are also actively developing their own large language model, "Olympus," hoping to surpass Anthropic's Claude model. The "Olympus" model is said to have "hundreds of billions" of parameters, although there has been no recent news about it.
The launch date of the new Alexa has been delayed, initially planned for September 2024, and is now scheduled for mid-October. This means that since the project was first announced in September 2023, Amazon has spent over a year bringing it to market.
Although Amazon has not publicly disclosed Alexa's financial performance, reports indicate that the company's device business, including Alexa, is operating at a loss. The new subscription model and enhanced e-commerce features may help Amazon recoup some of the investment costs.
Key Points:
1. 🗓️ Amazon plans to launch a new premium version of Alexa in October, offering personalized news summaries and smarter conversational abilities.
2. 💰 The subscription fee for the new version of Alexa is expected to be $10 per month, while the existing free version will continue to be available.
3. 🌐 Amazon is also developing a tool called "Project Metis," aiming to compete with AI products like ChatGPT.