Amazon is planning a major revamp of its decade-old money-losing Alexa service to include a conversational generative AI with two tiers of service and has considered a monthly fee of $5 to $10 for subscribers who wish to access the superior version, Reuters reports citing “people with direct knowledge of the company’s plans.”
Known internally as “Banyan,” a reference to the sprawling ficus trees, the project would represent the first major overhaul of the voice assistant since it was introduced in 2014 along with the Echo line of speakers. Amazon has dubbed the new voice assistant “Remarkable Alexa,” the people said.
Amazon has pushed workers towards a deadline of August to prepare the newest version of Alexa, three of the people said, noting that CEO Andy Jassy has taken a personal interest in seeing Alexa reinvigorated. In an April letter to shareholders, Jassy promised a “more intelligent and capable Alexa,” without providing additional details.
Amazon is working to replace what it refers to internally as “Classic Alexa,” the current free version, with an AI-powered one and yet another tier that uses more powerful AI software for more complicated queries and prompts that people would have to pay at least $5 per month to access, some of the people said. Amazon has also considered a roughly $10-per-month price, they said.
There is no tie-in with Amazon’s $139-per-year Prime membership being considered, the people said.
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MacDailyNews Take: Once Apple finally rolls out its improved Siri – for free – convincing people to pay up to $120, or even $60, per year for a “more intelligent and capable Alexa” sounds like a tough sell (of course, we’re already surrounded by superior HomePods, Macs, iPads, iPhones, etc.)
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