What you need to know
- Amazon has a revamped Alexa in the works that is powered by AI, according to a leak.
- The new Alexa will require a paid subscription, which could be up to $10 per month.
- The reported launch date of the new Alexa is October of this year, though plans are always subject to change.
- The new Alexa will include features such as "Smart Briefing," which uses AI to generate summaries of news articles based on a person's interest.
Microsoft Copilot and Google's Gemini may soon have a new competitor from another tech giant. Amazon is reportedly working on a revamped Alexa that will create AI-generated news summaries and help people with everyday tasks using the power of AI. Known internally as "Remarkable Alexa" or "Project Banyan," the new Alexa will launch in October 2024, according to internal documents obtained by and reported on by The Washington Post.
Unlike the current Alexa, the new Alexa is said to have a subscription cost that could be as high as $10 per month. That fee could help offset the costs of developing and maintaining Alexa. Earlier this year when reports first emerged about an AI-powered Alexa, it was revealed that Amazon's device division lost $25 billion between 2017 and 2021. Those reports were shared alongside alleged doubts by Amazon employees regarding a paid version of Alexa.
The Washington Post reports that pricing and branding of the new Alexa will be determined by Amazon management later this month.
Unlike several other AI-powered assistants, the new Alexa will be willing to summarize political articles, according to The Washington Post. If that is the case, the new Alexa would launch just weeks before the US presidential election. The "Smart Briefing" feature, which generates summaries of news stories by using AI, would likely receive quite a few queries in the weeks leading up to election day.
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The AI-powered Alexa will also be able to find recipes and have a chatbot designed for children, according to the documents covered by the Washington Post. Conversational shopping tools are also said to be a feature of the revamped assistant.
Will Alexa cost money?
While the new version of Alexa will reportedly require a paid subscription, the "classic" version of Alexa will remain free. Alexa is useable through a wide range of devices, including Echo hardware, smart televisions, and household appliances. At one point, you could install Alexa on a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC. Since March 2023, searching for Alexa in the Microsoft Store will now show you a way to install the assistant on your PC. You can work around this, however, by using a direct link to the Alexa listing in the Microsoft Store. I installed Alexa on my PC today and it works as you'd expect, though I can't guarantee how long that will be the case.
