amazon is working on a major renewal of its voice service Alexa, according to a report revealed by several internal sources. The company is considering rolling out a more advanced virtual assistant called “Remarkable Alexa,” which will incorporate generative artificial intelligence and could have two levels of service, one of which would cost between $5 and $10 per month.
The project, known internally as “Banyan”, would mark the first major update of Alexa since its launch in 2014 along with Echo devices. The new version seeks to offer more intelligent and personalized assistance to users.
amazon has set a target for August and CEO Andy Jassy himself has taken a personal interest in revitalizing Alexa. In a letter to shareholders in April, Jassy promised a Alexa “smarter and more capable,” without giving additional details at the time.
Although the plans amazon for Alexa could change, the company has already integrated generative AI into several components of the service and is working to deploy it at scale on more than half a billion AI-enabled devices. Alexa in homes around the world, according to an Amazon spokeswoman.
Service Alexa It has been used primarily to answer simple questions, control home devices, and provide weather information, but it has never been profitable. Competition with other giants such as Google, Microsoft and Manzana has motivated amazon to put effort into this project, especially after the rise of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT of OpenAIwhich has attracted a lot of attention.
Some employees see the Banyan project as a desperate attempt to revitalize the service, which has had difficulty staying competitive in the market and generating significant sales, according to statements collected. Additionally, the paid service could include advanced features such as email composing, food ordering and greater personalization, although there is skepticism about whether users would be willing to pay for something that is currently free.
amazon also seeks to improve home automation through Remarkable Alexa. The improved version could learn from user preferences to perform routine tasks automatically, although this would require the purchase of more iOS-enabled devices. Alexa.
Alexa was developed by Amazon Lab126 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and development began in 2013. The team was inspired by the computers in the Star Trek series that had natural voice interfaces.
Alexa was initially launched as a partner service with the Amazon Echo smart speaker in November 2014. At the time, its main functions were answering questions, playing music, creating to-do lists, and setting alarms.
In the years that followed, Alexa was constantly updated with new capabilities, such as controlling smart home devices, playing audiobooks, making voice purchases, and new skills developed by third parties.
In 2017, Amazon opened Alexa to third-party developers, allowing thousands of skills (voice applications) to be created. It also reached new devices such as tablets, televisions and headphones.
Today, Alexa is available in dozens of countries and integrates with tens of thousands of smart home devices. It is one of the most popular virtual assistants, competing with Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, and others.
(With information from Reuters)
