Amazon Alexa is one of the oldest AI chatbots that we can think of. At one point, all we could imagine from an AI chatbot was limited to Alexa and Siri. But now, times have changed, the world is progressing, and so is technology. Despite having the first-mover advantage, Alexa and Siri couldn’t benefit from it. Well, Apple has taken some initiative and for Amazon, it is high time now. Amazon has taken this into account and is now working to revamp Alexa.
According to reports, Amazon is going to give Alexa a significant change so that it can become a part of the competition again, the same competition which at one point it was acing. Now, ten years later, Amazon has decided to integrate conversational generative AI, as per a Reuters report.
Internally, the guys at Amazon are calling this attempt, the project “Banyan”. If rumours are to be believed, Amazon will market it as “Remarkable Alexa.” Now, from what we have seen so far, this is not just a technological upgrade but also an attempt to address the long-standing unprofitability of Amazon’s Alexa business.
Also read: Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen, 2023) Review : Great for the price
No, that’s not all. Once Amazon Alexa is revamped, it might also introduce a subscription system.
Two subscription tears will be introduced and there will be two tiers of subscription services, with monthly fees ranging from USD 5 to USD 10 (approximately ₹417–₹835).
Reports also suggest that the aforementioned Project Banyan comes with an August deadline and will be eventually rolled out for users later this year.
An Amazon spokesperson said, “We have already integrated generative AI into different components of Alexa and are working hard on implementation at scale—in the over half a billion ambient, Alexa-enabled devices already in homes around the world—to enable even more proactive, personal, and trusted assistance for our customers.”
