AMAZON will launch a more conversational AI-powered Alexa later this year, charging a monthly fee to cover the costs, according to CNBC. This new subscription won’t be part of the $139 annual Prime membership.
Despite Amazon’s silence on the report, the company confirmed in September its work on a generative AI version of Alexa to compete with OpenAI’s and Google’s chatbots. Recent shareholder communications emphasize Amazon’s commitment to integrating GenAI across its consumer services.
Introduced in 2014, Alexa hasn’t turned a profit yet, primarily serving as a gateway to Amazon’s shopping platform. Now, facing competition from OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s upgraded Gemini chatbot, Amazon plans to use its Titan language model for the Alexa upgrade.
Amazon’s $4 billion investment in AI firm Anthropic underscores its serious AI ambitions. However, investors remain cautious, fearing Microsoft’s significant head start in AI could challenge Amazon Web Services’ dominance in the cloud industry.
