AI has given digital assistants a serious facelift this year. The most prominent is Google, whose Gemini platform is already poised to replace Google Assistant. At WWDC24, Apple showed off what Siri will be able to do later this year with generative AI. So far, Amazon’s Alexa has been left out of the AI upgrades.
Alexa has not done well lately and is considered unprofitable by Amazon. This has led to staff cuts and less focus on it. To catch up, Amazon is working on a major AI update called “Banyan” to boost Alexa’s abilities.
Internal documents show two versions are planned – a free basic one, and a “Remarkable Alexa” for a $5-10 monthly fee. It aims to help users shop on Amazon through natural conversations before purchases.
Early reports say Amazon wants the new Alexa rolled out by August to compete. But people question if users will agree to pay when Alexa has always been free. Only time will tell if the subscription model works for Amazon’s voice assistant.
