Amazon apparently postpones improved Alexa until 2025
Amazon originally wanted to launch its new Alexa on the market in the fall. However, the revised version will probably not arrive until next year.
(Image: Shutterstock.com; Phil Lewis)
Amazon's revised AI Alexa will not arrive until 2025, according to the business magazine Bloomberg based on anonymous sources at Amazon. According to the report, the new version of the voice assistant was originally due to launch in the fall – at an event that was instead dedicated solely to the Kindle e-reader.
The upcoming premium version of the voice assistant is to be called "Remarkable Alexa" and is expected to cost a monthly fee. It will offer a number of additional functions compared to the standard version, enabling more natural conversations.
Amazon already showed demos over a year ago. Since then, however, there have mainly been negative headlines about the new Alexa version. Fortune magazine, for example, reported on statements from former employees who described Alexa as a "digital relic". Amazon had not managed to keep up with the AI progress of Meta, Microsoft and Google. Instead, the company, which was once a pioneer in voice assistants with Alexa, now has to catch up.
Slow responses and hallucinations
According to Bloomberg, the revised AI Alexa often takes too long to provide answers. The revised voice assistant is also susceptible to hallucinations typical of AI. Participants in a beta were therefore unimpressed, writes Bloomberg. The smart home integration also caused problems.
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Several LLMs are to work together under the hood of the new Alexa. According to Reuters, Amazon has decided to largely favor Claude from Anthropic over the internal AI model that has been powering the regular Alexa for years. Anthropic's AI chatbot, for example, is able to spit out answers more quickly.
It is still unclear when exactly Amazon's new Alexa will come onto the market – and how expensive the premium version will be. According to Reuters, Amazon is considering a price range of 5 to 10 US dollars per month.
(dahe)
