Amazon is working on a grand relaunch of Alexa, the voice assistant offered to customers since 2014 which in a decade has furnished the homes of over half a billion consumers around the world but has brought losses, rather than profits, to the company . New, more advanced versions of Alexa could be launched on the market by the end of the summer, according to rumors gathered by Reuters. Alongside the basic version currently available, a new one – or perhaps two – could soon see the light of day, capable of integrating a generative AI service into the voice assistant. The goal, as CEO Andy Jassy anticipated in April, is to offer “a smarter and more capable Alexa” to users. From the company’s side, however, it would be to make that product finally capable of bringing profits: both by strengthening its role as a “carrier” for purchases on Amazon’s e-commerce platform, and thanks to the monthly contribution that users should match. Yes, because always second Reuters the “evolved” versions of the voice assistant – the name in pectore is Remarkable Alexa – would no longer be free. The idea at the moment is to charge at least 5 dollars for the service. It is possible that two different new versions of the tool will also be proposed, and that one will be requested for the one capable of performing more complex tasks fee monthly around 10 dollars. However, internal discussions at Jeff Bezos’ giant are currently still ongoing.
The delay to fill and the bet on purchases
What is certain, however, is that the company is focusing a lot on the launch of the new product, above all to shorten the gap accumulated in the generative AI sector with the main competitor: OpenAI with ChatGPT and followed by Google with Bard have jumped far ahead in offering solutions to consumers, while a version of Alexa strengthened with AI announced last September has never seen the light of day until now. This 2024 must be “the year of victory” for Alexa, Amazon’s top management is encouraging engineers and developers, with the CEO directly involved in the pressing, according to what several sources have reported. We are working tirelessly with the aim of launching the new product ideally by next August, even if at the moment there is still no official presentation date. And the degree of success of the initiative this time will be measured in strictly commercial terms, it seems: the new Alexa, as well as remarkable, will it encourage users to carry out complex searches that then lead them to purchase on Amazon? The answer to the crucial question will be available in the coming months.
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