(Reuters) – Amazon unveiled on Wednesday the first major overhaul of its vocal assistant Alexa since its introduction over ten years ago, endowing it with a technology based on generative artificial intelligence.
This update is a major step for Amazon, which has injected billions of dollars into Alexa since its launch in 2014, in the hope of integrating the service into a range of devices in order to stimulate sales on its site.
The new service, which is called Alexa+, is free for members of Amazon Prime and costs $ 19.99 (19.07 euros) per month for other users. The service will be available in March for certain users, and will be extended to other people over time.
The new Alexa can record, through messages, customer preferences – for example, that a member of the home is vegetarian and prefers Greek and Italian cuisine, but does not want peanut butter. It can be used to reserve a dinner and send texts or reminders at a fixed time.
Alexa’s director Mara Segal said that Alexa could examine documents such as owners’ association contract so that a resident knows what is authorized, such as installing solar panels.
Apple had already integrated its suite of AI functions, called Apple Intelligence, its vocal assistant Siri, while Google had reorganized its vocal assistant using its IA Gemini chatbot.
(Greg Bensinger with Deborah Sophia in Bangalore; Pauline Foret; edited by Augustin Turpin)
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