Amazon Reportedly Developing Paid Subscription Plan for AI-Enhanced Alexa
According to a report by Business Insider, Amazon is currently working on a paid subscription plan for an improved version of its virtual assistant, Alexa. The sources cited in the report reveal that this new service, tentatively named “Alexa Plus,” is expected to launch by June 30. However, progress seems to have hit a roadblock, as Amazon is dissatisfied with the quality of the service thus far. Fixing the quality issues would require a significant overhaul of Alexa’s technology stack, potentially causing a delay in the offering beyond the mid-year deadline. Internally, the current version of Alexa is being referred to as “Classic Alexa.”
The upcoming Alexa Plus service aims to provide a more conversational experience compared to the free version of Alexa. It will also utilize artificial intelligence (AI) for personalized interactions. The service has already undergone a limited preview with 15,000 external customers. Feedback on Alexa Plus has been mixed, with users praising its conversational and informative capabilities but noting issues such as deflecting answers or providing unnecessarily long or inaccurate responses. Additionally, Alexa Plus seems to struggle with handling queries involving multiple tasks, such as simultaneously turning on lights and playing music.
It is highly likely that Amazon provided a preview of this service during its September 2023 event, where it announced future generative AI features for Alexa. The company mentioned that Alexa would receive enhanced conversational AI capabilities, increased personalization, and contextual awareness through an Alexa large language model (LLM). Business Insider mentions an Amazon LLM called Olympus, which is likely the same model referred to by Amazon.
Internal debates within Amazon are reportedly centered around whether customers would be willing to pay for these additional features. The company is considering whether it should charge for the upgraded Alexa service or offer it for free.
In related news, Amazon has made significant investments in Anthropic, a competitor of OpenAI, and also launched an AI chatbot for businesses in November.
Source: Business Insider