A paid version of Alexa is coming! Amazon plans to increase the capabilities of its voice assistant using artificial intelligence. To benefit from it, you will need to take out a subscription which should be different from that of Amazon Prime.
Since they arrived in our homes, voice assistants have made themselves very useful, even indispensable. Thanks to their technologies, they make it possible to instantly answer a question or control connected objects in the home only with voice, without even the use of a keyboard or remote control. If, initially, these tools were only available on smartphones, they ended up developing and taking up residence in our homes: televisions, speakers, headphones, robot vacuum cleaners… Today, Alexa, the intelligent voice assistant of Amazon which is integrated into Echo products, has gained the trust of users. Embedded in more than half a billion devices worldwide according to the Seattle giant, Alexa could undergo a brand new facelift in the coming months. Indeed, Amazon plans to develop a new paid version with generative artificial intelligence.
Alexa Plus: a more advanced but paid version
As a reminder, David Limp, the head of Amazon’s devices division, had already suggested that Alexa could become chargeable in order to support the excessive costs of artificial intelligence. As revealed Business Insider, Amazon has reportedly taken action and is currently working on an even more advanced version of its star voice assistant. The American company would particularly like to develop a new, even more efficient version, called Alexa Plus. Thanks to generative artificial intelligence, the voice assistant could then give more precise and succinct answers, but only for customers who subscribe to the paid subscription. For the moment, nothing has yet been communicated concerning the new features and the real possibilities offered by the new version.
Despite everything, the Seattle giant would not yet be satisfied with its tool. According to our American colleagues, the version was tested with 15,000 customers with a technology called “Remarkable Alexa” and the results are not yet completely convincing. Indeed, even if Alexa Plus would communicate in a more fluid and natural way with its users, its responses would be too long and not yet precise enough. But that’s not all ! There would also be internal differences of opinion. Some Amazon employees believe that the voice assistant should remain completely free. A debate which could lead to a delay in the launch of Alexa Plus. According to rumors, the voice assistant should be ready by June 30 at the latest, so that the service can be officially launched in the second half of 2024.