Amazon is looking to give Alexa an AI boost for its next-gen upgrade — but it will cost a monthly subscription.
The tech giant is reportedly upgrading its voice assistant with generative AI, and according to sources, the company will charge a monthly fee to help with the costs.
According to CNBC, a “more conversational” version of Alexa will be unveiled later this year.
A price point is yet to be decided, but it’s said the subscription for Alexa won’t be included in the current annual Prime offering.
The report claims the company wanted its developers to make something “that holds up amid new AI competition,” such as ChatGPT.
Amazon CEO Andy Jazzy is said to be “underwhelmed” with the modern-day version of Alexa, which some of the development team are concerned is more of an “expensive alarm clock.”
Amazon is shifting its goals towards artificial general intelligence, which is the concept of an AI model matching or surpassing a human being’s intelligence.
However, the company will initially look at making its own generative chatbot and build from there.
“Amazon will use its own large language model, Titan, in the Alexa upgrade,” an insider said.
