Amazon today announced a few new products and service improvements, from updated Fire TV hardware and software to new Ring smart cameras. The company also discussed improvements coming to the Alexa voice assistant, which will (hopefully) make Alexa easier to talk to and better at answering questions.
Amazon Alexa has always been a bit difficult to talk to — if you wait too long between responses, you have to call its name again, and it can have trouble with checking online information. Amazon is hoping to improve that with a new large language model, or LLM, similar to the technology that powers ChatGPT and Bing Chat. However, this LLM seems to be more lightweight than GPT-based services, or it's switching between a more basic AI and an LLM as needed. On stage at Amazon's press event, some of the answers were as quick as you might expect from today's Alexa or Google Assistant, while others (like creative writing questions) took a few more seconds.
Amazon says the new language model can handle multiple queries at once, such as asking to turn off the lights and lock a door in one sentence. That's something Google Assistant can usually (but not always) handle, but Alexa has struggled with in the past. Amazon told The Verge that the multi-command feature will only work with some devices, including lights, smart plugs, and a few others, and support will eventually expand to other categories.
The updated Alexa experience is more like talking to Bing Chat or ChatGPT, where you can return to a conversation without saying "Alexa" every single time, and you can use phrases like "wait, actually..." to rephrase the question without starting over completely. We'll have to wait for the final rollout to see how well that works in real life, though. The updated Alexa can also do the same writing functionality we've seen in other AI assistants, where you can give it a prompt and it will generate a short paragraph, poem, or other creation that may or may not be stolen from a major author.
You'll be able to try out the new experience by asking "Alexa, let's chat." If it's not rolled out to you already, you'll be added to a waitlist.
Source: Amazon, The Verge