For the last few years, I’ve been waiting for Alexa’s A.I. glow-up.
I’ve been a loyal user of Alexa, the voice assistant that powers Amazon’s home devices and smart speakers, for more than a decade. I have five Alexa-enabled speakers scattered throughout my house, and while I don’t use them for anything complicated — playing music, setting timers and getting the weather forecast are basically it — they’re good at what they do.
But since 2023, when ChatGPT added an A.I. voice mode that could answer questions in a fluid, conversational way, it has been obvious that Alexa would need a brain transplant — a new A.I. system built around the same large language models, or L.L.M.s, that power ChatGPT and other products. L.L.M.-based systems are smarter and more versatile than older systems. They can handle more complex requests, making them an obvious pick for a next-generation voice assistant.
Amazon agrees. For the last few years, the company has been working feverishly to upgrade the A.I. inside Alexa. It has been a slog. Replacing the A.I. technology inside a voice assistant isn’t as easy as swapping in a new model, and the Alexa remodel was reportedly delayed by internal struggles and technical challenges along the way. L.L.M.s also aren’t a perfect match for this kind of product, which not only needs to work with tons of pre-existing services and millions of Alexa-enabled devices, but also needs to reliably perform basic tasks.
But finally, the new Alexa — known as Alexa+ — is here. It’s a big, ambitious remodel that is trying to marry the conversational skills of generative A.I. chatbots with the daily tasks that the old Alexa did well.
Alexa+, which has been available to testers through an early-access program for a few months, is now being rolled out more widely. I got it last week after I bought a compatible device (the Echo Show 8, which has an eight-inch screen) and enrolled in the upgraded version. (Prime members will get Alexa+ at no cost, while non-Prime members will have to pay $19.99 per month.)
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The post Alexa Got an A.I. Brain Transplant. How Smart Is It Now? appeared first on New York Times.
