The improved version of Alexa that Amazon’s expected to release this year will primarily be powered by Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence model, according to Reuters. The publication reports that initial versions of Amazon’s smarter, subscription-based voice assistant that used the company’s own AI proved insufficient, often struggling with words and responding to user prompts.
Amazon’s minority stake in Anthropic is currently under investigation by the UK’s competition regulators. The company invested $4 billion into the startup last year with the promise that Amazon customers will get early access to the company’s AI tech.
The development of the new Alexa technology, dubbed “Remarkable Alexa,” has been rife with issues since it was announced last September, according to Fortune. Mihail Eric, a former machine learning scientist for Alexa AI, also said on X that the division was “riddled with technical and bureaucratic problems.” Meanwhile, Amazon’s currently dated but market-leading voice assistant is facing greater competition from challengers like OpenAI’s Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT, Google Gemini’s voice chat mode, and even Siri’s upcoming Apple Intelligence update.
The new Alexa built around Claude reportedly performs better than the version powered by Amazon’s in-house AI models.
“Amazon uses many different technologies to power Alexa,” the company told Reuters. “When it comes to machine learning models, we start with those built by Amazon, but we have used, and will continue to use, a variety of different models — including (Amazon AI model) Titan and future Amazon models, as well as those from partners — to build the best experience for customers.”
Following release delays, Remarkable Alexa will reportedly arrive sometime in mid-October. Expected features include daily AI-generated news summaries, a child-focused chatbot, and conversational shopping tools, according to a report from The Washington Post earlier this week. Reuters reported back in June that Amazon was considering placing the new Alexa behind a $5 to $10 monthly subscription in a bid to make the assistant profitable but would keep the current “Classic Alexa” offering available as a free-to-use service.
A demo of the new Alexa will be presented during Amazon’s annual devices and services event, according to Reuters, which is typically held in September.
Original author: Jess Weatherbed