Amazon’s AI revamp for Alexa might cost a tenner a month

For months we’ve been hearing a revamped version of Amazon Alexa could carry a subscription fee and one report claims to have insight into how much the service may command.

Described rather unkindly as a “decade-old money-losing” service in its current form, Amazon is said to be considering a so-called “Remarkable” upgrade using generative AI.

However the new tier will not be free, according to multiple reports. Now Reuters sources say Amazon has considered charging $5 or $10 for a “more intelligent and capable Alexa” promised by CEO Andy Jassy.

This would give subscribers the ability to ask Alexa to accomplish more from a single prompt. For example, it could ask the assistant to write an email, send said email, and order an Uber eats delivery, according to the sources referenced in the report.

Amazon provided a statement to Reuters saying: “We have already integrated generative Al into different components of Alexa, and are working hard on implementation at scale-in the over half a billion ambient, Alexa-enabled devices already in homes around the world-to enable even more proactive, personal, and trusted assistance for our customers.”

The report alleges there’ll be no tie in with Amazon Prime membership that would give users access to the revamped AI Alexa, meaning there’d be no freebies for Prime members.

The report comes at a pivotal time with Apple integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT within Siri, amid its own flailing efforts to revamp the Siri personal assistant to befit the generative AI age.

Reuters report doesn’t mention a release date for Amazon’s so-called “desperate attempt” to revitalise the former market leader as that too is still up for discussion, the sources say.