Amazon could further delay the launch of its revamped genAI-based Alexa personal assistant after its planned announcement on February 26, according to a new report.
The Washington Post spoke to an unnamed Amazon employee who said Amazon staff had been informed the new assistant won’t become available until March 31 – approximately five weeks after the introduction. The reason? The assistant is still failing internal tests by getting the answers to questions wrong, the source said, without detailing the issues.
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Considering the upgrade is designed to be “smarter and more conversational” it’d be far from a good look if the long-in-the-works upgrade fell at the first hurdle.
The WaPo report corroborates previously rumoured plans for Amazon to charge a subscription fee for some features – perhaps under an Alexa Plus plan.
According to internal docs the paper has seen, those features may include the ability for Alexa to showcase more personality, recall some of your previous requests and conversations, and order food or a car from Uber.
Again, if Amazon plans to charge for this, users would likely be less patient, although the company is said to be plotting a free trial of the new capabilities.
The planned update was first announced a year ago and had previously been planned for a November launch. When Amazon confirmed the February 26 launch event plans, it was thought the assistant roll out would follow. That may not be the case
Pioneers struggling in new era
Apple and Amazon helped to pioneer voice assistants in the home and on mobile, but the incumbents have struggled badly with the advent of competition from the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s rapid transition from Google Assistant to Gemini.
The problem for Apple and Amazon is those very pioneering tools are now acting as a millstone. Instead of starting from scratch on a Gen AI solution, the companies are reengineering what they already had. That’s not been an easy feat, as evidenced by this reported delay.
With Apple reportedly delaying its big Siri revamp until the summer, the duo risk being left behind as user habits begin to develop around new features.
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