Amazon is planning to give its Alexa voice assistant a generative AI-powered upgrade that could require a new subscription fee, CNBC reported Wednesday. Amazon stock traded flat on the day.
The Seattle-based tech behemoth plans to launch the upgraded Alexa later this year, according to CNBC's report. Amazon has not yet decided on a price for the subscription. But it would be charged separately from its $14.99-per-month Prime subscription, the report said, citing unnamed sources.
The tech giant is looking to better position Alexa to compete against AI-powered chatbots from the startup OpenAI and Google parent company Alphabet, according to the report.
On the stock market today, Amazon stock closed roughly even at 183.13.
Amazon Alexa: Competing With Apple, Google, OpenAI
Along with Google and OpenAI as competitors, Apple is expected to upgrade its Siri virtual assistant to be more conversational. Apple is hosting a developers conference on June 10.
With Alexa's launch in 2014, Amazon was an early mover in the market for voice-powered assistants. But beyond selling its Alexa-enabled Echo smart speakers, Amazon has struggled to monetize Alexa. The project was a favorite of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos but is less favored by Andy Jassy, who succeeded Bezos in 2021, CNBC reported.
In an email, an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on CNBC's report but pointed to recent public comments from Jassy. In his annual letter to shareholders last month, Jassy highlighted Alexa as part of Amazon's broader generative AI vision.
"We're building a substantial number of GenAI applications across every Amazon consumer business," Jassy wrote to shareholders on April 11. "These range from Rufus (our new, AI-powered shopping assistant), to an even more intelligent and capable Alexa, to advertising capabilities ... to customer and seller service productivity apps, to dozens of others."
Last September, Amazon published a blog post previewing a "smarter and more conversational Alexa" the company said would be powered by a custom-built large language model.
Amazon Stock: Three-Weeks-Tight Pattern
Meanwhile, Amazon has traded tightly in the weeks following its first-quarter earnings report. Shares have formed a three-weeks-tight pattern, according to MarketSurge, with a potential buy point at 191.70.
In Tuesday trading, Amazon stock found support at its 50-day line.
Overall, shares are up 21% this year, outpacing an 11.5% gain for the S&P 500. Amazon stock is up 58% over the past 12 months.
