During an event, Alexa’s new natural and conversational voice was unveiled.
Alexa had a first mover’s advantage that it didn’t use properly.
Ex-Amazon employees revealed there was a lack of sufficient data and chips needed to train and operate LLMs.
While everyone is hosting events and speaking about AI, even Amazon took this opportunity to host an event at Amazon’s second headquarters in the Washington D.C. suburbs. The e-commerce giant took this opportunity to speak about Alexa’s latest evolution, which was unveiled by David Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices & Services. New capabilities of Alexa were spoken of during the event.
During the event, Alexa’s new natural and conversational voice was unveiled. A demo was played where the virtual assistant updated Limp on Vanderbilt University’s football game and seamlessly composed a message to his friends about the upcoming match, sending it directly to his phone.
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It was about time that Alexa picked up the pace as it had been previously criticised, even by tech leaders such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Satya Nadela who called it “dumb as a rock.” And there’s a good reason behind this. Alexa is one of the oldest virtual assistants out there, which means that it had a first mover’s advantage which it didn’t use properly. Further, the rollout of the new Alexa LLM has been marred by delays and internal challenges.
According to Amazon employees, these delays were fueled by the organisation grappling with structural dysfunction and technical difficulties, lagging behind rivals Google, Microsoft, and Meta in deploying advanced AI capabilities. Even after the September 2023 demonstration, Alexa’s robotic voice remained unchanged. Previous employees stated that the demo was premature in September 2023 as the new Alexa was far from ready for a full-scale release.
What did Amazon miss with Alexa?
Ex-Amazon employees revealed that there was a lack of sufficient data and specialised chips needed to train and operate LLMs. Additionally, Amazon’s prioritisation of AI development for its cloud computing arm, AWS, over the Alexa project has further hampered progress. The company also invested $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic. It was not leveraged effectively for Alexa due to privacy concerns and internal politics.
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Mustafa Khan
Mustafa is new on the block and is a tech geek who is currently working with Digit as a News Writer. He tests the new gadgets that come on board and writes for the news desk. He has found his way with words and you can count on him when in need of tech advice. No judgement. He is based out of Delhi, he’s your person for good photos, good food recommendations, and to know about anything GenZ. View Full Profile
