by Juli Clover
Apple competitor Amazon is working on a revamp of its Alexa assistant, and the new version could cost up $10 per month, according to a report from Reuters. The upcoming version of Alexa will support conversational generative AI, and Amazon is planning for two tiers of service.
There will be a free tier and a second, premium tier that is priced at $5 at a minimum, with Amazon considering price points ranging from $5 to $10. Amazon does not plan to include the premium Alexa tier with its $139 per year Prime subscription.
Amazon has not made significant updates to Alexa in the last decade, and it has fallen behind other AI products that have started to adopt large language models. Alexa is free and built into Amazon devices, so Amazon does not make money directly from it as of now. Some employees that spoke to Reuters said the revamp is a "desperate attempt" to revitalize Alexa, and Amazon executives have suggested it is imperative Alexa demonstrate it can generate "meaningful" sales.
The updated version of Alexa, which Amazon calls "Remarkable Alexa" internally, is expected to be able to do things like craft emails, give shopping advice, and order delivery from Uber Eats. Amazon also wants to improve the way that Alexa controls smart home products, with Alexa able to learn how to automate routines.
Amazon is aiming to have the updated version of Alexa finished by August, which would see it launch later this year. Apple is working on a similarly updated version of Siri that also incorporates large language models, though many of the new Siri functions won't be coming until 2025.
Tags: Amazon, Alexa
[ 146 comments ]
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Top Rated Comments
Kabeyun
2 days ago at 03:05 pm
Can’t wait to hear all about the free tier experience:
“Hey Alexa, what’s the weather tomorrow?”
“Happy to tell you, but first here’s a message from ShedRain umbrellas! Strong, compact, lightweight, and totally waterproof, guaranteed!…”
Score: 50 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jjdodders
2 days ago at 03:02 pm
lmaooooooooooooo the logical end point to this subscription obsession is that you will eventually have to pay a monthly subscription to ward off Boston dynamics dogs from ripping out your throat.
£10 a month for something I make set a cooking timer for me occasionally? It's cheaper to just throw the thing out the window.
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sloheim
2 days ago at 02:56 pm
In related news, Alexa is dead.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane
2 days ago at 03:04 pm
They could pay me $10 a month and I wouldn’t use it
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos
2 days ago at 03:03 pm
As long as I can still tell it to play music or to turn on / off my lights I don’t care. This is the only thing I use those assistants for. I am way too lazy to talk
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrkevinfinnerty
2 days ago at 02:58 pm
Would've raked it in, in 2016 the last time anybody cared.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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