Amazon is holding a press occasion this week, the place we count on it to lastly launch its “new” Alexa. This may very well be the start of a serious shift in how we use generative AI in our properties, or it may very well be an enormous disappointment.
The latter appears seemingly, primarily based on the delays and chronic rumors that the voice assistant is scuffling with its revamp. However I’m hoping we’ll at the very least find yourself someplace within the center — with a wiser, extra helpful Alexa, if not the “superhuman assistant” Amazon has promised.
The occasion, scheduled for 10AM on Wednesday, February twenty sixth, in New York Metropolis, is being hosted by Amazon’s new units and repair chief Panos Panay, which is a robust trace there’ll be new {hardware}. The flagship fourth-gen Amazon Echo speaker is well past due for an improve, and with good glasses being so scorching proper now, I may see Alexa getting cozier on our faces.
Right here’s a have a look at what we count on from the occasion, what to not count on, and what we hope is coming. Bear in mind to tune in to The Verge’s reside weblog on Wednesday.
I count on Amazon to announce the long-awaited arrival of its new Alexa, which has been rearchitected and infused with generative AI — courtesy of its LLMs, together with Titan and reportedly a few of Anthropic’s Claude.
First introduced within the fall of 2023, the revamp of Amazon’s as soon as trailblazing AI voice assistant has been a very long time coming. Whereas it’s positive to set a timer or play music and switch your lights off, the present Alexa has struggled to search out goal in a world dominated by ChatGPT, Gemini, and their ilk.
The brand new “Exceptional Alexa,” because it’s reportedly referred to as, ought to perceive pure speech, interpret context, reply to a number of requests in a single command, and take motion in your behalf with both deeper API integrations and / or real agentic talents.
All of which means we should always have the ability to discuss to Alexa with out utilizing clunky nomenclature and get extra helpful responses (assuming Amazon has managed to squash Alexa’s reported want to point out off).
For good house management, we should always have the ability to say a command like, “Alexa, prove the lights, lock the again door, and switch the thermostat to Sleep — oh, and play sleep sounds within the bed room,” and the Assistant will do all of it.
Amazon’s new Alexa will probably be tuned in to your good house and its capabilities
Amazon’s new Alexa must also be tuned in to your good house and its capabilities. At CES this yr, I spoke with corporations engaged on integrations with the brand new Alexa, utilizing the brand new developer instruments Dynamic Controller and Motion Controller that Amazon introduced in 2023. Then Amazon stated it was working with GE Cync, Philips Hue, GE Home equipment, iRobot, and Roborock on options that might permit the Assistant to higher perceive what you need units to do. For instance, say “Alexa, the ground is soiled,” and it’ll ship out your robotic vac.
GE Cync’s Carmen Pastore confirmed to The Verge that the good lighting firm is engaged on integrating what he referred to as “Amazon Alexa Reflex” to simplify lighting scene management with pure language voice instructions.
That is the place Alexa can differentiate itself. The voice assistant may convey worth if it could actually fuse its present capabilities with generative AI-powered enhancements. Nevertheless, studies counsel this has been a problem, with the brand new Alexa susceptible to hallucinating or refusing to activate lights. It’s additionally an space rivals Apple and Google, who’re tackling the identical problem with Siri and Google Assistant, are reportedly scuffling with.
A brand new flagship Echo speaker and higher entry to Alexa on the go
Due to the billions of low cost Alexa-enabled units in individuals’s properties, Amazon has a head begin within the good house. Nevertheless, the flagship Echo fourth-gen good speaker is now 4 years outdated. The corporate has stated its new Alexa will run on all present {hardware}, however I count on the improved voice assistant will include a shiny new house — particularly contemplating Panay, the brand new units and companies chief, has spectacular {hardware} chops, courtesy of his time at Microsoft constructing the Floor line.
The stage is ready for an Echo speaker with a brand new design, improved processing energy, native management, and extra sensors
When it introduced the brand new Alexa in 2023, Amazon launched the Echo Hub good house controller and the third-gen Echo Present 8 good house show. Whereas we would see an Echo Hub 2.0, the stage is ready for a brand new Echo speaker with a brand new design, improved processing energy, native management, and extra good house sensors.
Whereas the house is Alexa’s consolation zone, Amazon may proceed pushing us to make use of Alexa on the go together with new Echo Body good glasses and a 3rd technology of the flagship Echo Buds, making the smarter Alexa accessible wherever we’re.
On the 2023 occasion, Amazon confirmed off a number of new AI options on its Fireplace TV line, together with an improved Alexa search and generative AI screensavers, together with a brand new soundbar and souped-up Fireplace TV sticks. Whereas new capabilities are seemingly, it’s additionally potential we’ll see new, extra highly effective Fireplace TV {hardware}, maybe with Thread and Matter performance inbuilt, to assist energy deeper integration between Fireplace TV, Alexa, and the good house. We’ll have to attend and see.
No firehose of loopy devices
We in all probability gained’t see a slew of latest units. There wasn’t a conventional fall {hardware} occasion in 2024. As an alternative, Amazon has introduced a gentle movement of latest merchandise over the previous few months, together with new Kindles and two new Echo Exhibits. And earlier this month, Ring introduced its first 2K-capable safety digicam, and Eero expanded its line of Wi-Fi 7 routers. All of this factors to this occasion being nearly Alexa and methods to speak with the AI.
Amazon has stated publicly that it’s contemplating charging for the brand new Alexa, with studies suggesting a value between $5 and $10 a month. Some have stated will probably be free for a restricted time.
Reuters reported that Amazon may generate $600 million yearly if simply 10 p.c of its customers paid $5 per thirty days for the service. Contemplating that Amazon reportedly misplaced over $25 billion on its Alexa division, this could be a much-needed increase for the product.
Making Alexa actually helpful is Amazon’s greatest hurdle
A subscription-based Alexa could be a primary for the corporate, nevertheless it’s pretty frequent with AI companies. Within the good house, we’ve already seen options like AI-powered video search from Ring and Google Dwelling behind paywalls.
However will you pay for a greater Alexa? If it could actually ship on its guarantees and extra — possibly. The brand new Alexa must create sufficient worth for customers. One space it could actually do that is by fixing particular issues. For instance, I examined the Skylight Calendar, whose AI assistant may handle my family’s calendar for me. It prices $80 a yr however is genuinely helpful.
Making Alexa actually helpful is Amazon’s greatest hurdle. It doesn’t have the non-public context that competing assistants like Siri and Google Assistant have by being embedded in your cellphone. If Amazon can discover a approach to connect with that non-public knowledge, mixed with the context it has about your private home, it may get there. It’s an enormous if, and Amazon has an enormous belief and privateness mountain to climb to get there.
An excellent begin could be eliminating the annoying advertisements and “By the best way” interruptions.
