Next-gen Amazon Alexa might not need you to ask

Amazon has been hard at work on a subscription-based, next-generation of Alexa with generative AI features, but is now hinting about a future version of the assistant that’ll take the initiative without your prompts.

During an earnings call on Thursday, the Amazon CEO Andy Jassy used a term we haven’t seen associated with Alexa, Siri and co. all that often: “Agentic”. In this parlance he’s referring to a potential version of Alexa that could do things for you, without you needing to ask.

TechCrunch reports Jassy as saying: “I think that the next generation of these assistants and generative AI applications will be better at not just answering questions and summarising, indexing, and aggregating data, but also taking actions. And you can imagine us being pretty good at that with Alexa.”

The technology doesn’t sound imminent, judging by Jassy’s comments, and the idea of it conjures a number of potential doomsday situations. Even for simple things like Alexa taking agency over your smart home products and deciding to unlock your doors or turn on your oven, simply because that might be part of your regular routine.

But enough spewing from my worry brain.

Jassy also gave an update on the new and improved Alexa version that’s been promised for the shorter term. He says the company is focused on rewiring the brain of Alexa based upon new foundational models. There’ll be an update on this in the near future, he said.

Previous reports have suggested Amazon’s efforts to conjure a “Remarkable Alexa” have been far from smooth sailing.

Back in January, a report from Business Insider said the efforts were floundering due to tech issues and internal politics. Beta testers who’d had access to early versions complained the service frequently provided inaccurate information and “often gives unnecessarily long or inaccurate responses”.