Amazon plans to announce several improvements for Alexa to help it compete against the competition from Google and Apple.
According to a report from Reuters, Amazon sent out press invites on Wednesday for the event in New York. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that the event will be Alexa-focused but wouldn't offer more details on what this might mean.
In recent months, there's been a lot of push to make AI assistants as capable as possible. For instance, Google has been working to improve Gemini with Gemini Live, creating a more conversational experience while improving functionality. Apple, meanwhile, has been pushing to improve the intelligence boost that Apple Intelligence brings to Siri.
Amazon, in comparison, appears to have not done much to upgrade Alexa past what it was initially capable of. While Alexa is capable of helping us order from Amazon or telling us the weather, that appears to be the most capable of doing so.
However, we might be able to get an indication of what changes are coming, thanks to the changes to ChatGPT and Gemini. For instance, Alexa could offer more natural feeling conversations, like we saw in Gemini Live. Amazon could also help Alexa differentiate between multiple speakers. There are also rumors that Alexa will be able to act as an "agent" for you and take actions without your direct involvement.
We heard rumors back in 2024 that Amazon is planning to use Anthropic's AI to supercharge Alexa. This will, in theory, improve Alexa's ability to remember user preferences, which means better recommendations for customers when using features like Amazon Music.
Now, there is some bad news as it seems that Amazon reportedly plans to offer this improved AI under a $5 to $10 monthly fee. However, the current iteration of Amazon Alexa, which will be called "Classic Alexa," will still be available to users for free.
For now, we can only wait and see what is announced during the event, but this could be a big shakeup to the AI Assistant market.
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