Rumors began circulating earlier this 12 months claiming Amazon was engaged on enhancing Alexa by giving it new generative AI options. Since then, we haven’t heard a lot about it till very just lately when CNBC spoke to individuals accustomed to the challenge’s improvement. The new reporting supplied perception into what the firm goals to do with the upgraded Alexa, how a lot it could price, and the purpose why Amazon is doing this.
CNBC’s sources had been fairly tight-lipped. They didn’t reveal precisely what the AI will likely be ready, however they did point out the tech large’s objectives. Amazon needs its builders to create one thing “that holds up amid the new AI competition,” referring to the likes of ChatGPT. Company CEO Andy Jazzy was reportedly “underwhelmed” with the modern-day Alexa and he isn’t the just one who needs the assistant to do extra. Reportedly, the dev workforce is seemingly nervous the mannequin presently quantities to simply being an “expensive alarm clock.”
To facilitate the new route, Amazon reorganized main parts of its enterprise inside the Alexa workforce, shifting focus towards reaching synthetic basic intelligence.
AGI is a idea from science fiction, however it’s the concept that an AI mannequin could sooner or later match or surpass the intelligence of a human being. Despite their lofty objectives, Amazon appears to be beginning small by desirous to create its personal chatbot with generative capabilities.
The sources state, “Amazon will use its own large language model, Titan, in the Alexa upgrade.” Titan is only available to businesses as a part of Amazon Bedrock. It can generate text, create images, summarize documents, and more for enterprise users, similar to other AIs. Following this train of thought, the new Alexa could offer the same features to regular, non-enterprising users.
Potential costs
Previous reports have said Amazon plans to charge people for access to the supercharged Alexa; however, the cost or plan structure were unknown. Now, we’re learning Amazon is planning to launch the Alexa upgrade as a subscription service completely separate from Prime, meaning people will have to pay extra to try out the AI, according to this new report.
Apparently, there’s been debate on exactly how much to charge. Amazon has yet to nail down the monthly fee. One of the sources told CNBC that “a $20 price point was floated” round at one level whereas another person advised dropping prices all the way down to “single-digit greenback [amounts].” So, in different phrases, lower than $10, which might permit the model to undercut rivals. OpenAI, for instance, fees $20 a month for its Plus plan.
There isn’t any phrase on when Alexa’s replace will launch and even be formally introduced. But if and when it does come out, it is likely to be the first chatbot accessible by way of an Amazon good speaker like the Echo Pop.
We did attain out to the firm to see if it wished to make a assertion about CNBC’s report. We’ll replace this story if we hear again.
Til then, take a look at TechRadar’s roundup of the greatest good audio system for 2024.