Amazon wants to upgrade Alexa with new AI chatbot technology based on leaked documents

Amazon is trying to upgrade Alexa’s AI chatbot capabilities according to leaked documents. In a world that is now obsessed with generative AI like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, the voice assistant needs to be revived.

In one illustration, Alexa creates a bedtime story in response to an eight-year-old’s request for a tale about “a cat and a moon.” Additionally, in typical ChatGPT fashion, it invents an entire narrative about “Mittens, the first cat to ever go to the moon.” Additionally, it describes how an Echo Show camera captured the child holding an Olaf toy, bringing the character into the narrative.

Amazon is considering several cooperation options, including ones with Lego and Disney.

A newer, more advanced version of Alexa will be powered by Amazon’s large language model (LLM), which was created in-house. As opposed to Bing from Microsoft, which makes use of OpenAI’s model. Even though Amazon refers to their LLM as the Alexa Teacher Model and that Alexa has ostensibly been utilizing the Teacher model for some time, a company representative told Insider that the business is constructing larger, “more generalized and capable” ones that will make Alexa “more proactive and conversational.”

According to the exposed papers, Amazon wants Alexa to appear as a thinking being rather than just “fetching from a database.” The “Alexa LLM Entertainment Use Cases” section, which is noteworthy, describes how the new AI system will make media suggestions, news delivery, and storytelling in particular more conversational.

Another instance is when a user requests, “Alexa, find that HBO or Netflix show where rich people go on vacation to Sicily or Hawaii.” After determining that the song is from The White Lotus, Alexa answers the user’s request for the cast list. Additionally, HBO is available on FireTV for a free trial. When a user asks Alexa how much HBO will cost after the trial, Alexa responds with the price and inquires as to whether they want to subscribe to the service (via Amazon’s Prime Video Channels).

Plans to revitalize Alexa follow rounds of significant layoffs at the business that allegedly affected up to 2,000 staff members from the division working on projects like the Alexa voice assistant and Amazon’s hardware and started months ago.