Amazon’s Alexa – accessible through Echo smart speakers and other products – has been upgraded with AI to make the assistant even smarter, more conversational and more personalised so it can get things done and find information even faster.
Alexa+ is now connected to an LLM (large language model) to give it even wider capabilities and make it more intuitive.
Now conversations with Alexa+ will be more conversational and natural and will feel like you’re talking to a friend.
Alexa+ is already integrated into many services like Apple Music, Spotify, Netflix, Disney+ and can also access, monitor and control smart products from ECOVACS ROBOTICS, Arlo, Philips HUE, Uniden and many more.
There are more than 600 million Alexa devices globally which are used to stream music, access radio stations, watch videos and manage their smart devices in their home.
It is easy to control multiple smart devices with a single request and create Alexa routines just by using your voice.
Alexa will also understand what you mean if you say you’re cold and ask if you’d like the temperature adjusted and adjust the lights when you say it’s too bright.
With this upgrade, Alexa+ now has agentic capabilities. What does this mean?
It means Alexa can navigate the internet on its own to complete tasks on your behalf.
For example, if you need to get your dishwasher repaired, Alexa+ will be able to search the web, find a repairer, authenticate and arrange the repair.
Alexa+ is also more personalised because it knows what you bought, what you’ve listened to, what you’ve watched, your address and how you like to pay.
But it’s capable of remembering things to make it even more useful including favourite recipes, important dates, facts, dietary preferences and much more.
For example, Alexa can remember you love Thai food, that your son is gluten free and that your daughter is a vegetarian when suggesting a new recipe or restaurant.
Alexa+ is there when you need it but he’s also proactive and speaks up at important moments like suggesting an earlier time to leave home to avoid traffic or telling you a product you’ve always wanted is on sale.
And Alexa plus will never stop learning.
It is now linked to LLM’s with a much wider knowledge base to create an even smarter AI assistant that is always learning new things but also developing a deeper understanding and bringing it together in an accurate real time response.
Users can also add documents, emails, photos and messages via a desktop browser, the mobile app or even via email so Alexa can increase its knowledge and remember, summarise and act on even more things.
For example, you could send a picture of a conference schedule and have Alexa add them to your calendar or upload study materials and ask Alexa to turn them into a quiz.
Alexa+ will be available in English to customers in the US to begin with and will roll out to other countries – including Australia and New Zealand – later this year.
