Amazon is close to launching a new version of Alexa

Amazon has started sending out invitations for an AI event on February 26, where the company plans to unveil the next generation of its Alexa voice assistant powered by generative AI, Reuters reported.

Since its launch in 2014, Alexa has become one of the most popular voice assistants, but Amazon has caused it to fall behind the rapid developments in the field of generative AI, led by platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Amazon is seeking to reinvent Alexa to make it capable of conducting complex, context-aware conversations, as well as handling multifaceted and multi-step requests.

The company is relying on Anthropic’s AI models to develop the new version of Alexa, rather than relying on its own internal technologies, after previous versions of Amazon’s AI technologies faced problems with response speed and giving incorrect answers. Amazon had planned to launch the new version of Alexa last year, but decided to postpone it to ensure improved performance.

Amazon sees this update as a crucial step, especially with more than 100 million active users of the service, and more than 500 million devices sold that support it.

The company seeks to convert some of these users into subscribers to the new service, as it plans to charge a subscription fee for the developed voice assistant in the future. However, the new version will initially be tested with a limited group of users at no cost.

This development comes ahead of Apple's preparation to test a new version of its voice assistant "Siri" supported by Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence capabilities and is expected to include improvements in understanding screen context and personal information, in addition to performing more complex tasks through applications.

Leaks indicate that Apple will launch an updated version of Siri next year based on large language models, making it more capable of competing with ChatGPT and other smart assistants.