The new Alexa de Amazon, driven by AI, promises to be your «best friend in a digital world»

Amazon on Wednesday presented a Alexa enhanced by generative artificial intelligence that, according to the company, will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, can evaluate a user’s tone of voice and even plan romantic quotes.

But unlike before, when Alexa offered for free on any compatible device, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly rate of $ 19.99 for the renewed voice assistant, which they call «Alexa+».

However, Alexa driven by generative artificial intelligence will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual rate for free shipments and other benefits.

In an event for the press held in New York City, Amazon executives showed the update of the digital assistant launched 10 years ago with new features aimed at increasing sales and interactions with enabled devices for Alexa.

The company said that Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural and human flow, and can learn more about a user – such as food preferences or allergies – the more it is used.

«I’m not only an assistant, I’m your new best friend in the digital world,» said Alexa+ during a stage demonstration on Wednesday.

In the event, Panay Panos, Vice President of Amazon devices and services, listed other things that the voice assistant can now do, such as creating curricula, sending text messages to a nanny and requesting a trip on Uber for a friend.

He and other company executives also mentioned that Alexa can recover Ring cameras —as verifying if a user’s dog was strolled that day – and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails and other documents shared with her.

«It’s smarter than ever, but it’s also accessible,» Panay said.

Alexa is integrated into products such as smart speakers, Amazon Fire TV devices and headphones. The technological giant based in Seattle launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 along with its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands.

Panay said that Amazon has sold more than 600 million devices enabled for Alexa and that the participation of users grew 20 % last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown that Alexa has the highest market share among voice assistants.

The renewed Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the emerging generative artificial intelligence company in which the technological giant has invested billions of dollars. Alexa+ has an “independent model system”, which allows him to select the best AI model for the tasks he wants to complete, according to Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon for Alexa and Echo.

Amazon competes in the smart speakers market with other technological giants, such as Apple and Google.

A subscription quota for the renewed Alexa will allow the company to compensate for the costs related to the development of AI and help its device operations more profitable.

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