There is good news and bad news from Amazon, as the renowned e-commerce company is reportedly looking to bring upgrades to Alexa and supercharging the AI assistant to bring more features and capabilities to users. However, this comes with a caveat in the form of a new subscription to access the revamped AI, asking users to pay for its more premium experience.
Alexa has been widely available on the Amazon app and the products made by the smart home company, but in this upgrade, it is moving behind a paywall.
Amazon Alexa's Next-Gen, Supercharged AI Assistant Needs Subscription
Nicolas J Leclercq from Unsplash
A report by Business Insider claimed that Amazon has already supercharged Alexa and offers improved features with it in an internal version of the app. While it is not yet available to the public, it was said to be under consideration to offer it amongst its users but will come at a premium price under a subscription program where it would be locked behind a paywall.
It was said that Amazon calls this the "Alexa Plus," with the company looking to release this specific upgrade come June 30, but is speculated that it will miss the said launch date.
However, it might not be known to many, but it is under testing amongst the public, hidden under the guise of "Remarkable Alexa," with 15,000 customers part of the program.
Premium Access to Alexa: Will Subscription Be a Good Thing for It?
While this all sounds all too well, there is trouble in paradise, as Amazon employees are reportedly against the idea of asking for a subscription for its access as they feel people would not be willing to pay. Moreover, it was said that Alexa Plus is also experiencing AI hallucinations and other broken features with it.
The Alexa Plus is referred to as Amazon's plan to save the AI assistant as it is considered a failure for not making money despite its service, and the company expending resources to develop it.
Amazon's Alexa and its Assistive AI Features
There is a massive focus from Amazon poured over to Alexa, and this is because the AI voice assistant is best known as one of the company's face—err, voice-of its products. Many upgrades have been given to Alexa in the past few years, and the latest one centers on new accessibility features that allow Eye Gaze and Call Translations.
Before, Alexa was known for its robotic voice, with it sounding like a traditional AI assistant when prompted by users.
However, Amazon recently gave it a significant update via its generative AI developments, now sounding more human-like compared to before.
It is expected that Alexa will get more upgrades and new features along the way, especially as Amazon is deep into the development of its AI offers, soon to experience these improvements. In the latest report, there are plans to upgrade Alexa into a supercharged AI, sounding like how Microsoft turned Bing into one, but will come at an unknown price under a subscription program.
