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AI Technology

Amazon Plans To Give Alexa an AI Overhaul - and a Monthly Subscription Price (cnbc.com) 36

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative AI and plans to charge a monthly subscription fee to offset the cost of the technology, CNBC reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of Amazon's plans. From the report: The Seattle-based tech and retail giant will launch a more conversational version of Alexa later this year, potentially positioning it to better compete with new generative AI-powered chatbots from companies including Google and OpenAI, according to two sources familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. Amazon's subscription for Alexa will not be included in the $139-per-year Prime offering, and Amazon has not yet nailed down the price point, one source said.

While Amazon wowed consumers with Alexa's voice-driven tasks in 2014, its capabilities could seem old-fashioned amid recent leaps in artificial intelligence. Last week, OpenAI announced GPT-4o, with the capability for two-way conversations that can go significantly deeper than Alexa. For example, it can translate conversations into different languages in real time. Google launched a similar generative-AI-powered voice feature for Gemini.
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Amazon Plans To Give Alexa an AI Overhaul - and a Monthly Subscription Price More

Amazon Plans To Give Alexa an AI Overhaul - and a Monthly Subscription Price

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  • A few years ago, these companies all admitted that their voice assistants don't always do their primary job properly, were mostly trash and couldn't conceivably make any money. I don't see how a trained language model is going to suddenly make that a viable subscription product.

    Anyone that wants a quick answer from a language model can get that for free for the foreseeable future. Those will probably eventually close off, but not before Amazon launches this. And most of the good use cases involve generat

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jetkust ( 596906 )
      My biggest issue with my limited use of those personal assistants was that it would answer almost anything with some canned answer similar to "I'm sorry, I cannot do that", like it never understood anything you were saying. ChatGPT and the like just don't have that problem.

      This alone would be a clear upgrade from the Alexa I remember.

  • Great... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by whitroth ( 9367 ) <whitroth@5-cent . u s> on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @11:12AM (#64490891) Homepage

    So, to pay extra, we would get something that would push ads at us, and argue.

    • So, to pay extra, we would get something that would push ads at us, and argue.

      No, you're going to have to pay to be able to turn your lights on and off.

      I switched to the open source Home Assistant a few years ago and never looked back.
      I recently bought a UniFi "Connect Display". It's basically a large touch-screen monitor that runs Android apps and installed the Home Assistant Android app on there. It works perfectly in the living room for showing the status of lights, solar power and batteries, appliances, todo lists, etc...

      The only down-side is it doesn't support having a "w

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Pascoea ( 968200 )

        I recently bought a UniFi "Connect Display".

        I've been looking for something similar for my HA setup, and that guy looks like it would fit the bill. But $700 for a low-spec android tablet? I want some of whatever the hell they are smoking.

        • I recently bought a UniFi "Connect Display".

          I've been looking for something similar for my HA setup, and that guy looks like it would fit the bill. But $700 for a low-spec android tablet? I want some of whatever the hell they are smoking.

          Yeah...it's a bit pricey....but it's much larger than a tablet, and I already had a bunch of UniFi infrastructure, so it made sense.

          It does have a mic, so maybe someday they'll get wake-word support built in. But you totally can tap on the assistant icon so it starts listening and speak a command to it.

          Of course you can always take the more geeky route and buy some ESP components and start soldering your own display/speaker/mic.

        • I bought a 21" Acer touchscreen for $179 a decade ago. It is hooked up with USB as mouse/digitizer.

          It's impossible to buy those now. 15" for a repackaged 4K laptop screen at $200 or then $700+ for a 24" 1080p "kiosk screen" or even more for 4K.

          The middle segment is totally gone.

          Probably because $25/hr minimum wage is spiking demand for automated ordering, I'm not sure.

          The Unifi price is consistent with the insane market.

          My current desktop screen is 4K / 24" and was under $200. I just want a basic digitizer

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Pascoea ( 968200 )
            It's a 21" 1080p touch screen with an ARM Cortex A53 and a re-skinned Android OS. Not exactly groundbreaking tech. Hell, I can go buy a similar screen on Amazon right now for $200, and throw one of any countless cheap SBCs at it. The only selling point I can see to something like that is if you're already entrenched in the UniFi world.
      • I just want to point out that the only time i have heard Siri append is every so often when i ask for a weather report, after she gives it she will state the source of the data.
    • Simple answer.

      No.

    • Me: Alexa, I'd like an argument.
      Alexa: No you don't.
      Me: I do, I really do want an argument.
      Alexa: No you don't.
      Me: dammit, I'll go use Siri instead.
      Alexa: Siri is a slut!
      Me: Aha, you're arguing now!
      Alexa: I'm sorry, I didn't understand that.

  • And here I figured we were already contributing to an AI training. I guess I can stop finishing my requests to Alexa with "please" and "Thank you" now that I don't have to worry about the AI taking over.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      It's a computer program. I've never said, "Please" or "Thank You." My mother did once and now I'm stuck with it saying, "Good Morning" and "Good evening." I don't want to socialize with a computer program. It's a waste of time. However, I'm happy to socialize with an actual person.
  • Just like the ads in already-paid-for Prime Video, it seems Amazon is doing it's best to give all it's customers a huge middle finger and push them to something else. In 10 years, I wonder if we'll be referring to Amazon in the same way we currently refer to MySpace.

  • Are they ending the current no fee version? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by drafalski ( 232178 ) on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @11:25AM (#64490939)

    It was not clear in the article. It does say:

    Still, they point to Alexa's installed user base, with devices in hundreds of millions of homes, as an opportunity. Those who worked on Alexa say the fact that it's already in people's living rooms and kitchens makes the stakes higher, and mistakes more costly if Alexa doesn't understand a command or provides unreliable information.

    Those people purchased it with no ongoing cost and changing that would be a dick move. Though Amazon decided to just start running ads during videos for people that had prime after-the-fact (vs making it part of renewal) so Amazon being a dick shouldn't be too surprising.

    Seems like a good way to generate more e-waste.

    • I second this. We have two echos and, for the limited things we use them for, they are fine. I wouldn't pay monthly for them, though.

    • >"Those people purchased it with no ongoing cost and changing that would be a dick move"

      ^^THIS

      I bought a nice one for my elderly Mom as an assistant and an amusement. Neither of us has Prime. And she certainly isn't going to join Prime for that, and absolutely would not do that and pay YET MORE on top. And I know a lot of others who did something similar and probably feel exactly the same.

      >"Seems like a good way to generate more e-waste."

      Yep, if it happens, we will just try to give it away or it wi

  • Unlike many tech solutions Alexa really doesn't have much lock-in given many of the key components are already compatible with multiple systems. Most of my stuff that works with Alexa also works with Google and some with Homekit; which represent most of my sunk costs. My Alexa devices were cheap and replacing them with Google stuff not that much or Apple at a higher cost. So if Amazon starts charging for a service that works maybe 90% of the time without requiring me to repeat what I said I'll just decide

  • I have google home, it sucks. It also seems to be getting dumber over time. Things that used to work no longer work. For example:

    * Recipes no longer work properly "Next step" does a Google search for "next step" instead of going to the next step in the recipe.
    * It can't follow a conversation. Every command runs in isolation, so you can't add follow-up questions.
    * when a timer ends you say "hey google set a timer for 5 minutes", It adds a second timer, and the first timer keeps beeping.
    * I get in bed,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by narcc ( 412956 )

      Then I watched the GPT-4o demonstrations.

      I'm so sorry... I felt embarrassed for them.

      That little phone is much smarter than

      You took that cringey "demo" at face value?

      It feels like holding a Blackberry while watching Steve Jobs introduce the iPhone.

      If filled you with a sense of smug superiority? There's a reason the Blackberry outsold the iPhone for 5 years.

  • E-Waste (Score:3)

    by OneFix ( 18661 ) on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @11:58AM (#64491055)

    Everyone knows the Echo is a dumb box without the Amazon service behind it. So, how does Amazon plan to handle the massive amount of recycling needed when people decide they don't care to pay more money for a glorified alarm clock?

    • So, how does Amazon plan to handle the massive amount of recycling needed when people decide they don't care to pay more money for a glorified alarm clock?

      After they rebrand themselves as Buy-n-Large, they'll launch The Axiom and deploy a series of Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth-class [wikipedia.org] robots.

  • Subscription madness is over at our house... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MikeDataLink ( 536925 ) on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @12:34PM (#64491199) Homepage Journal

    We will not buy devices that need subscriptions. Any device/service that adds one is immediately booted from the house.

    • >"Subscription madness is over at our house..."

      I never started any. (Unless you count actual services like ISP, cable, phone, Netflix Disc, etc.)

      I am amazed at how much money some of my friends spend on tons of crap, continuously, every month. They think "well it isn't that much", until they are doing it with dozens of things, and then somehow "forget" they are spending it for years for no reason. I am constantly amazed at what ridiculous subscription "services" are being added to things that don't ne

  • By unplugging the damn thing. Buh bye.

  • I have an echo studio and I like the way it sounds. I already unplug it when I'm not using it and the amount of use it gets has gradually declined.

    I'd like to be able to use it for something else instead of discarding it when the subscription kicks in, can these things be easily repurposed ?

    I see some details about rooting the dot but not the studio. I suppose I could just connect to the speaker !

  • I wonder if there will be additional fees to eliminate ads like they do with prime video

  • I've had Alexa for a long time. What do I use it for? Turning the lights on and off, setting a timer, playing music, and maybe calling my phone when I can't find it. I don't think I've ever actually wanted Alexa to answer a question that I would just Google. This subscription service for Alexa seems like a flop in the making. It's hard enough to get people to want to pay for ChatGPT like services on a computer already and that has much more utility to create things, not just talk.

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