Hello and welcome to Eye on AI. In today’s edition…Amazon introduces its new generative AI-powered Alexa; Microsoft workers protest AI deals with the Israeli military; Meta looks to go big on a new data center campus; Chegg sues Google over AI Overviews; and college students are increasingly leaning on AI for schoolwork.
More than a year after first announcing it, Amazon yesterday finally launched Alexa+, its new version of Alexa powered by generative AI. On paper, it’s certainly a step up from the Alexa that’s been available for the last decade, offering integrations with “tens of thousands of services and devices,” the ability to memorize user preferences, perform a wide range of tasks, and deliver an overall more personal and conversational experience. As Fortune’s Sharon Goldman reported, it will be available to limited customers starting in March and will be free for Prime members or $20 per month.
Whether or not it takes off with consumers, however, is going to be the billion-dollar question. The original Alexa turned out to be useful for only a small range of tasks and struggled to live up to its promise. And as I wrote last week in light of AI Pin-maker Humane shutting down, the device side of the AI era hasn’t been going so great, with both the AI Pin and Rabbit’s competitor R1 device struggling to resonate with consumers. Alexa+ is not only Amazon’s chance to catch up in the AI race, but another shot at mainstream adoption of an AI assistant-type of hardware device.
Alexa goes full agent
The new release offers significantly more than answers to “Alexa, tell me the weather.” According to Amazon, Alexa+ can manage your calendar and emails, give summaries of important documents, remember important details, deliver personalized news summaries, order groceries, make dinner reservations, book appointments, and generate images and music. It has vision capabilities and can take and analyze photos—matching a capability that OpenAI offers through ChatGPT’s “advanced voice mode” and that Google has been building with its yet-to-be released Project Astra AI tool. Like those other AI assistants, Alexa+ can also have free-flowing conversations and answer niche requests, like a request for a recommendation for a 20-minute podcast within a certain genre.
Of course, it also adds some new smart home features, like the ability to summarize what’s going on around your home, create routines, and decipher more complex and conversational smart home commands. Overall, the company is framing Alexa+ as more conversational, smarter, personalized, and proactive.
The gang’s all here
Amazon pulled out all the stops in terms of partnerships and integrations, setting up Alexa+ to interact with so many of the most popular services the average person uses. This includes GrubHub, OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Yelp, Thumbtack, Vagaro, Fodor’s, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Whole Foods, Uber, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Max, and more.
Alexa+ also relies on partnerships with publications including The Associated Press, Politico, the Washington Post, and Reuters to offer data and information about financial markets, sports, and more. A partnership with AI company Suno powers the music generating capabilities. And as far as what’s going on under the hood, Alexa+ relies on AI models that include Amazon’s Nova model as well as other leading models, including those from Anthropic, the AI company that Amazon has backed to the tune of $8 billion dollars so far.
Amazon has previously sold more than 500 million Alexa-enabled devices, according to the company, which puts this launch directly in the hands of tons of consumers. This distribution alone sets up Amazon to be an important decider in determining how people will interact with AI agents. Amazon has a lot riding on this Alexa makeover, and so whether Alexa+ proves a success will be a story to watch.
And with that, here’s more AI news.
Sage Lazzaro
sage.lazzaro@consultant.fortune.com
sagelazzaro.com
