AMAZON is set to launch a subscription-based AI voice assistant in the coming months, but users are already dubbing it a “disappointment.”
The company has been teasing an update to its flagship virtual assistant, Alexa, since September 2023.
While the company insists the new and improved tool will offer better personalization and contextual understanding, it is already encountering problems.
The AI-enabled feature is set to drop in the fall – as soon as October – under one condition: users must pay up to $10 per month for access.
And frustrated customers say this is only the latest in a series of price hikes and disappointments.
Users flocked to Reddit to voice their opinions, with the majority anticipating the tool wouldn’t be worth the lofty price.
“Pass! Alexa has been a disappointment since day one and gets worse with each year,” one Reddit user proclaimed.
Another netizen said the app had failed to live up to his expectations despite its potential.
“I feel like it has some opportunity to be one great media player for music, news, and even video, but they have fallen flat there with poor interface and limited speakers and such, and unreliability, and lots of annoyances,” the user wrote.
“No one’s going to want or need it,” another Redditor professed.
There is some merit to their complaints. Alexa has served largely the same purpose since its debut in November 2014.
It is most helpful when answering basic questions about the weather or other factoids, playing music, or controlling smart devices in your home.
However, the market for voice assistants has become saturated over the years. As competitors like Google continue to innovate with smart speakers, Amazon is falling further and further behind.
Rumors suggest the Alexa unit has fallen out of favor at the company, which generates most of its revenue through e-commerce.
Alexa was set to lose Amazon around $10 billion in 2022, making the division a target for layoffs.
Things came to a head in November when Amazon slashed several hundred jobs.
In an internal memo reviewed by The U.S. Sun, Alexa and Fire TV’s vice president Daniel Rausch said the company was shifting its efforts to align with new business priorities.
These include “maximizing our resources and efforts focused on generative AI.”
While layoffs have cut costs, they’re also a stumbling block for innovation, leaving a smaller team to carry out more work just months ahead of the tool’s release.
Despite the stumbling blocks, Amazon continues to charge ahead with the AI update and promises significant changes.
These include daily summaries of news articles curated by the AI to suit a user’s “preferences.”
The company has promised more personalized and conversational responses for a while now, and even hinted the AI will be able to learn from user responses.
There has been an increased push for human likeness in other artificial intelligence tools, including chatbots from Meta and OpenAI.
It seems AI-equipped Alexa will be the latest on the market to recreate the sensation of talking to a person rather than a machine.
Other anticipated features include cooking tips, with the AI helping users find recipes and providing “food assistance.”
A new shopping assistant will notify users when products they’ve expressed interest in have gone on sale.
It is unclear just how this works, but the feature will likely be compatible with the Amazon marketplace and Prime Day deals.
The company has even promised a personal assistant for children that can have back-and-forth conversations about any topic.
Amazon says the adjustments are based on customer feedback, pushing home the idea of catering to their needs.
If successful, the AI could be a lifeline for company’s struggling Alexa division – but we have yet to see if customers are willing to buy in.
If you've never heard of Alexa, here's what you need to know...
