Amazon will hold a major event in New York this afternoon, where the US company is widely tipped to unveil significant updates to its product lineup, which includes popular ranges like the Fire TV Stick and Amazon Echo, as well as a shake-up to its chatty Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant, Alexa.
Senior Vice President Panos Panay, who leads the Devices & Services team at Amazon, will introduce the event. The Amazon executive previously worked at Microsoft, where he spearheaded the development of Microsoft Surface two-in-one devices and laptops, and the redesigned Windows 11.
According to whispers from inside the company, the announcement scheduled for this afternoon could be one of Amazon’s most important in recent memory. Amazon itself has remained tight-lipped about what to expect from the event, but rumours suggest it could see a slew of hardware and software innovations.
It comes as Amazon released a new version of its Eero Wi-Fi routers, which promise to bring cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7 speeds and reliability to more people thanks to a new “affordable” price point. It puts Eero in direct competition with EE, which remains the only nationwide broadband provider to offer a Wi-Fi 7 router.
Amazon Echo owners could be charged a monthly fee to access the next major upgrade for voice assistant, Alexa, which will seemingly tap into the next generation of AI models AMAZON PRESS OFFICE
One of the biggest announcements from the event is tipped to be a significantly upgraded version of Alexa, Amazon’s immensely popular voice assistant. Amazon has been working on a more conversational AI assistant for years, with plans to make interactions feel more natural and human-like.
Amazon already offered a sneak peek of how large language models will enhance Alexa during its annual hardware event, held at its corporate headquarters in Arlington, Virginia in September 2023.
In a live demo on-stage, Amazon devices boss Dave Limp revealed how the latest iteration of the assistant would be more expressive in its responses – for example sounding happier when returning a positive score result for your favourite sports team.
Not only that, but by saying “Let’s Chat” to Alexa, users can speak with the virtual helper without the use of the wake phrase “Alexa” every time, making each exchange feel more conversational and natural.
You’ll even be able to pick up a conversation after a short break and Alexa will still remember all of the context from the previous exchanges.
This could dramatically enhance Alexa’s usefulness around the home. For example, the AI would learn that it’s always asked to power-on a television for a favourite weekly show at the same time, or start a fresh coffee pot after the morning alarm goes off — allowing it to automate all of these tasks.
Dave Limp promised that Alexa can understand inferences and more vague prompts in a way that he described will be “like talking to a friend”. For example, the next-generation Alexa could respond to the prompt like “I’m cold” by turning on the heating in a connected home.
“You can now have near-human-like conversations with Alexa,” promised Dave Limp at the time. The executive has since left Amazon.
The major refresh to Alexa will purportedly bring a swathe of the generative AI features we’ve seen from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Apple Intelligenceand others, including the ability to pen a draft email from a short written prompt, dreaming-up a reponse to a text message, and even ordering multiple meals with a single prompt.
If the reports are accurate, this would represent a major evolution compared to Alexa’s existing functionality, which consists of answering general knowledge queries, interacting with smart home devices, setting timers, adding events to your calendar, and other comparatively basic tasks.
But all of that additional functionality could come at a cost.
Yes, Amazon could be poised to introduce a subscription fee for its beefed-up Alexa service. It’s rumoured to cost between £3.99 and £7.99 a month, or a maximum of $10.
This move is seen as an attempt to recoup significant investments in AI technology. Amazon has funnelled a reported $4 billion into AI research company Anthropic to help train its reimagined Alexa on large language models, known as LLMs. Unfortunately, the Alexa subscription will not be discounted for those who subscribe to Amazon Prime at £95 per year, whispers from within the company claim.
According to sources, Amazon will keep the existing iteration of its voice-activated assistant around for the foreseeable future, which will be rebranded as “Classic Alexa”. This will be available free of charge to anyone with an Amazon Echo, Fire TV, Fire Tablet, or other hardware from the shopping company.
It means Amazon Echo owners (and others) will be able to continue to convert currency, set timers and reminders, check the latest forecast and weather, and turn off the lights without setting up a new Direct Debit.
This tiered approach would allow Amazon to monetise its AI investments while not alienating existing users.
If that wasn’t enough, Amazon is expected to unveil new gadgets during its event tomorrow.
The company’s best-selling Echo, Echo Show, and Fire TV Sticks haven’t been refreshed in over 18 months, meaning they’re well overdue for an upgrade. Whispers from inside the online superstore suggest Amazon Echo and Echo Dot models could receive a makeover with superior sound and new designs. The Echo Show lineup, which has a touchscreen display to showcase more information from Alexa, could benefit from better displays.
Fire TV Stick offers access to some of the biggest streamers, catch-up services, and apps available with its Alexa-powered software. It competes directly with the likes of Roku and Chromecast AMAZON PRESS OFFICE
Entry-level Fire TV Sticks could enjoy performance improvements to make them more powerful. Not only that, but it’s been three years since the Echo Dot (5th gen) was released, and four years since the fourth-generation Amazon Echo was released.
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These product lifecycles are unusually long for Amazon’s hardware lineup. The event will kick off at 3pm GMT tomorrow, giving UK consumers a chance to learn about Amazon’s latest innovations.
GBN Tech will bring you all of the latest news from Amazon as soon as it’s announced, so stay tuned.