Can Generative AI Help Alexa Compete With ChatGPT and Google?
Alexa, what’s the weather like? This has generally been the way to use Amazon’s voice assistant for years, but the company has now relied on creative AI to help polish Alexa and make it more human than ever before.
Amazon hosted its annual device event on Wednesday, and as expected, the company had a lot of AI stuff to share that will deliver a new look for Alexa. Amazon has confirmed that chat Alexa will be rolled out to all Echo devices launched in 2014. Generative AI is a hot buzzword in the industry, and OpenAI has demonstrated its capabilities with ChatGPT, which now powers Microsoft’s Bing and Edge browsers.
Google is another pioneer in the AI category, with products like Bard and Gemini that are close to reality. Amazon isn’t building anything new, instead using Alexa to communicate with consumers, something the company says its competitors aren’t doing yet.
So what is Amazon doing now to make big changes to Alexa? The company shared information about its latest Large Language Model (LLM) to improve Alexa conversations and make them more personal and close to human speech accents. Amazon explained that it trains Alexa in different accents to help improve her speech patterns. This version of Alexa doesn’t need a wake word (finally) to give you answers.
In fact, during the Alexa demo at the event, Amazon showed us its improvements where you can break a sentence and start a new one without interrupting Alexa’s response. It can be said what generative artificial intelligence will bring to Alexa and this version will be released in 2024, the company announced. Will this be enough to compete with Google Assistant and ChatGPT in the coming months?
It’s too early to make those claims, but the potential is there, and Amazon hopes that the popularity of its Echo and Fire TV devices will ensure that Alexa practices and improves with every conversation people have with the AI-powered voice assistant. The company offers this version of Alexa for all Echo products, which makes sense and would surely please consumers.
