Amazon will unveil AI-enabled Alexa companion devices this fall
The new features will go beyond answering trivia questions and help consumers complete tasks such as hiring someone to fix an oven for example.
Amazon will be releasing companion devices for the latest version of its Alexa voice assistant with Artificial Intelligence (AI) features this fall.
The new features will go beyond answering trivia questions and help consumers complete tasks such as hiring someone to fix an oven for example, CEO Andy Jassy said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
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The new Alexa, which is also Amazon's most popular virtual assistant, comes at a time when the older one got eclipsed by a wave of AI chatbots in recent years, such as the pioneering ChatGPT from OpenAI, for instance.
This version is an attempt to rekindle consumers’ enthusiasm and also generate revenue from subscriptions, online shopping, and other businesses.
Amazon will also start charging Alexa customers for the first time when the new one rolls out next month.
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Users who desire all the latest capabilities will have to pay $19.99 a month, according to the report, which added that members of Amazon’s $139-a-year Prime program get the update for free.
However, Alexa's overhaul took longer than what Amazon expected since the challenge here was to infuse AI into a software that was not initially designed to generate answers on the fly.
Other challenges that Amazon continues to face related to the growth of its cloud-computing division are power constraints and chip shortages.
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Jassy however, said that the Trump administration is committed to solving the issue, while adding that a proposed Biden-era rule that would curb the export of AI chips to nations like Israel and the United Arab Emirates could have unintended consequences which includes giving up "that business and relationships to other countries who can provide those chips,” according to the report.
His comments were similar to that of a Microsoft Corp. blog about the policy on Thursday.
