Amazon is reportedly working on an evolution of the Alexa voice assistant. A kind of Alexa Pluscalled internally Remarkable Alexawhich is expected to launch this year with a new paid subscription service.
This was revealed by Business Insider, based on internal documents and anonymous sources close to the project. However, the Alexa revamp process is running into technical and political obstacles that could cause delays.
What we know about Alexa Plus
The goal of Alexa Plus, as reported by BI, would be to offer a artificial intelligence technology more natural and personalized, as emerges from one of the documents obtained by Business Insider.
The development team it planned to launch the product by June 30 and was experimenting with new voice technology, called “Remarkable Alexa”. However, the quality of the new Alexa’s responses is still not satisfactory, often providing incorrect information, as evidenced by external tests.
For this reason, Amazon is doing a radical overhaul of its voice assistant technology stack. A revision that, however, would be creating tensions within the team. The sources who spoke to BI asked to remain anonymous because they did not have permission to speak to the media.
Alexa Plus may represent Amazon’s last hope to shake up the voice technology that was once seen as the company’s future. The voice assistant, despite its initial success, has struggled to create a sustainable business model, leading to staff and cost cuts over the past year.
“If it fails to generate revenue, Alexa will be in trouble,” one of the sources told Business Insider.
