At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, Amazon provided a little more insight into how it thinks its AI platform will compete in the real world. In other words, Amazon plans to take advantage of the wide footprint its devices already have in homes and the familiarity that consumers already have with its Alexa brand.
“97% of the devices we’ve shipped so far can support Alexa+,” Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon Alexa and Echo, said in an interview at CES. He said the latest numbers available to Amazon show that the company has sold more than 600 million devices, the “vast majority” of which will support the revamped AI assistant, Alexa+.
Announced early last year, Alexa+ is Amazon’s future in the generative AI market, offering more expressive voices, access to the same worldly knowledge as other AI assistants, and an AI agent that performs tasks on behalf of customers (like calling an Uber or ordering food). The company has been steadily rolling out access to its AI platform, with more than 1 million Alexa customers gaining access by June of last year, and “tens of millions” now choosing to upgrade to its AI assistant.
Amazon hasn’t revealed the exact date when Alexa+ will be available to everyone. The company is initially focused on bringing AI to all Prime members.
Beyond availability, what Amazon will soon need to prove is whether customers will actually use its AI. That’s where Rausch believes Alexa’s existing footprint can help.
“I think we’re going to see all kinds of AI for customers. I think Alexa will be one of the fundamental assistants,” he said. He believes there will always be specialized AI in the market that focuses on one thing, such as legal assistants, but there will also be a small number of “fundamental AIs that are named and have advanced capabilities,” which is where Alexa comes in.
“I think part of the benefit of Alexa is customer familiarity. We already have tens of millions of customers who are engaged on an ongoing basis,” Rausch said. “It’s in the home, it’s available ambiently, it’s audio, it’s delivered in the most natural interface. We believe that’s our growth opportunity,” he added.
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Alexa’s plans for the home come after Apple announced it will partner with Google’s Gemini for Siri, while other AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude compete for use cases ranging from research to medicine to coding and more.
Just before CES, Amazon announced ways to access Alexa on the web and a redesigned Alexa app that brings a chatbot-style interface to the forefront. At the conference, Amazon partners such as Samsung, BMW, and Oura showed off their Alexa integration.
The company also touted its recent acquisition of Bee, an AI wearable that can record conversations and gain insights. Customers can interact with Bee through text or voice chat.
In the future, Rausch says Alexa and Bee will become even more integrated. But he added that Bee has value as its own standalone brand, calling it “an important and beloved experience.”
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