Sunday, September 01, 2024

Amazon's Plan to Sell Generative AI Version of Alexa, documents show

The upgraded service will launch this October, according to internal memos.

Posted by lamplighter at 04:31 PM | 4 COMMENTS | permalink

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... When Amazon launched Alexa in 2014, the concept of a consumer-friendly, voice-controlled smart assistant was still fairly fresh. Many of us envisioned a daily life that involved tossing questions, calendar requests, online orders, and other commands at voices inside our Bluetooth speakers or phones, thus reducing the amount of time we spent on our most mundane tasks. Nearly a decade later, voice-controlled smart assistants have proven themselves more of a lackluster novelty than a consistently useful form of technology.

Amazon is banking on artificial intelligence turning that reputation around. Internal company documents reviewed by the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post reveal that Amazon plans to introduce a generative AI-powered version of Alexa this October. Per the memos, Alexa AI will include a "smart briefing" feature with daily, AI-generated recaps of news stories based on the user's interests. Alexa AI will also offer "conversational shopping tools," a feature that helps users find new recipes, and a chatbot for children. While these additions might make for a more streamlined user experience than what Alexa currently offers, the documents name Alexa AI for what it is: an attempt to drive "recurrent engagement" among those with Amazon's Echo speakers, sunglasses, video displays, and more. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-01 02:01 AM

Apparently, Amazon needs to do something, and quickly, to make Alexa profitable.


Amazon Alexa is a "colossal failure," on pace to lose $10 billion this year (2022)
arstechnica.com

... Layoffs reportedly hit the Alexa team hard as the company's biggest money loser.

Amazon is going through the biggest layoffs in the company's history right now, with a plan to eliminate some 10,000 jobs. One of the areas hit hardest is the Amazon Alexa voice assistant unit, which is apparently falling out of favor at the e-commerce giant. That's according to a report from Business Insider, which details "the swift downfall of the voice assistant and Amazon's larger hardware division."

Alexa has been around for 10 years and has been a trailblazing voice assistant that was copied quite a bit by Google and Apple. Alexa never managed to create an ongoing revenue stream, though, so Alexa doesn't really make any money. The Alexa division is part of the "Worldwide Digital" group along with Amazon Prime video, and Business Insider says that division lost $3 billion in just the first quarter of 2022, with "the vast majority" of the losses blamed on Alexa. That is apparently double the losses of any other division, and the report says the hardware team is on pace to lose $10 billion this year. It sounds like Amazon is tired of burning through all that cash.

A division in crisis

The BI report spoke with "a dozen current and former employees on the company's hardware team," who described "a division in crisis." ...


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-01 02:04 AM

Apparently, Amazon needs to do something, and quickly, to make Alexa profitable.

Amazon doesn't get ecosystems, few companies do. There is a lot they could do, but they are just to lazy, and not interested in doing it.

But for me this great news, as an Alexa user I think this is wonderful.

#3 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-09-01 07:59 PM

Having one of these units in your home will be like having the FBI living with yo 24/7/365. Recording every conversation orobably programmed to alert authpt[rities if certain words are spoken but wait, I just read that new thought reading technology is capable of listening and transcribing your thpights onto paper. I have an ALEXA now nut I think it may soon be eliminated but WTF? I also have a Google TV that can hear everything said and transcribe iy; evev this conputer can record every conversatiion near it if I turn on the microphone. We really are alreasy surrounded by recording devices with the power to transmit information to anyone that knows how to hack into it especially if er use WIFI. I've read that newer cars are virtually recording devices too as well as our smart phones. I'm not paranoid but I'm not having one of these AI Alexas in my house evem if it's only $10.00 per month. Oh s**t!m now Bezos will think I'm his enemy but hey I don;t want to work at Amazon anyway.

#4 | Posted by danni at 2024-09-02 12:25 AM

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