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Everything Announced at Amazon’s Alexa+ AI Event
Amazon’s highly anticipated Alexa+ AI event took place yesterday and the company did not disappoint. The event was all about showcasing the next-gen voice assistant, which has been in development since 2023.
First and foremost, Amazon unveiled its upgraded voice assistant, aptly named Alexa+. This new iteration boasts more conversational and intuitive capabilities across compatible devices. What’s more? It can remember users’ preferences, such as their taste in food when asking for a recipe, making the experience much more personalized.
One of the most impressive features showcased during the event was Alexa+’s ability to detect tone and mood. In a live demo, it demonstrated its capacity to try and remain calm Panos Panay, Amazon’s hardware chief, during his presentation. This feature could potentially become a game-changer in the world of AI-powered virtual assistants.
In addition to these groundbreaking capabilities, Alexa+ will also be able to answer questions about footage captured with Ring cameras, photos taken with an Echo Show, emails, files such as PDFs, hand-written notes, calendar events, upcoming sports games and more. The upgrade also incorporates a music generation feature called Suno, which allows users to create custom songs on the fly.
Another significant aspect of Alexa+ is its integration with various services and platforms. Amazon has partnered with numerous news organizations, allowing it to answer questions about an array of topics using current information. Other partners include Uber for ordering rides, OpenTable for booking a restaurant reservation, Spotify, Sonos, Samsung, Xbox, Tidal, Dyson, NASA, and “tens of thousands” more.
For parents, the upgrade includes kid-friendly features such as customized story-telling capabilities through genAI, which lets kids pick what they want to hear about. Alexa+ will also be able to answer questions for them (hopefully without any incorrect or false results).
During his opening remarks, Panay acknowledged that the current state of Alexa can be frustrating, but promised that generative AI would help alleviate those issues. He emphasized that an AI chatbot wouldn’t be sufficient and instead aimed to create something easy to use that enables users to “actually take action.”
Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that Alexa+ will also be accessible via alexa.com and revamped iOS and Android apps.
While many were expecting new devices to accompany the upgrade, this was not the case. It seems Amazon has chosen to focus solely on the AI capabilities of Alexa+. However, it’s important to note that Alexa+ is designed to run on nearly every Alexa-compatible device released, making the upgrade a relatively seamless experience for users.
Overall, Amazon’s Alexa+ event showcased some truly impressive advancements in AI technology and its potential to revolutionize how we interact with virtual assistants.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/ai/everything-announced-at-amazons-alexa-ai-event-164613305.html?src=rss
