During the recent third-quarter earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed that the company is making significant improvements to its smart assistant, Alexa. He stated that the future Alexa will be a more "intelligent" assistant, capable of not only answering questions and summarizing information but also taking actions on behalf of users.
Jassy pointed out that the next-generation smart assistant and generative AI applications will have stronger capabilities, able to perform various tasks beyond just providing information. He said, "You can imagine our Alexa in this regard will be very impressive."
To achieve this goal, Amazon is restructuring Alexa's "brain," planning to introduce a series of new foundational models, which will be announced in the near future. Amazon first announced the transformation of Alexa in 2023, with plans to integrate generative AI technology into the assistant's functions.
It is understood that Amazon has encountered some technical challenges during the reconstruction of Alexa, and the company now intends to replace the original Alexa model with a model from the startup Anthropic. Reports indicate that in the improved version, Alexa faced slow response times when turning on smart lights, sometimes taking up to six seconds to respond to user requests.
The internal codename for the new generation of Alexa is "Remarkable Alexa," which is expected to offer a paid plan of $5 to $10 per month, along with a feature-limited free plan. Although reports suggested the assistant would launch in October, it now seems to be delayed, with an expected release in 2025.
Despite being used in over five hundred million devices worldwide, Alexa's contribution to Amazon's profits has been minimal. Since 2017, Amazon has lost billions of dollars in its device business, putting pressure on the company's financial situation.
Key Points:
📅1. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announces the transformation of Alexa, introducing a more intelligent assistant.
💡2. The new version of Alexa will have the ability to perform tasks and plans to introduce new foundational models.
⏳3. "Remarkable Alexa" is expected to launch in 2025, with a paid plan of $5 to $10 per month.