In the words of the late-Sam Cooke — “A Change is Gonna Come.” Amazon is scheduled to hold an event on February 26th, 2025 to debut its new AI-powered Alexa and the implications for consumer A/V products can’t be understated.
Rather than relying on its in-house AI technology, Amazon is using AI models from Anthropic’s Claude, and although we have to wait for the event to get all the juicy details, preliminary indications are that the new Alexa generative AI voice service is the most important upgrade since it was introduced in 2014 (10 years ago!).
The main presentation will be made by Panos Panay, head of devices and services. While the event is Alexa-focused, there may be some additional supporting product debuts.
Also, it has been indicated that even though this event appears to be on, related Amazon Executives are holding a meeting on February 14th to make the final decision as to whether the new Alexa upgrade is ready to go.
If ready, Amazon expects to roll out the service after the February 26th event to a limited number of users at no charge. Upon its full release, Amazon is considering a $5 to $10 monthly fee to use the AI Alexa. However, Amazon also plans to continue “Classic Alexa,” (the current version in use) for free (but it may not receive any upgrades).
The Alexa Landscape
Currently, millions of Amazon products in use work with Alexa (Echo, Fire TV Stick, Omni series TVs), and it is also accessible in other select 3rd party-branded products including TVs, AVRs, soundbars, wireless speakers, automobiles, and hundreds of connected home products. The estimate is that there are 100 million active Alexa users and over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices have been sold.
Alexa voice interaction and control allow users of those products to navigate menus and product features, select content from streaming services, and control other Alexa smart home devices from select TVs, AVRs, wireless speakers, or even appliances directly.
However, sometimes users might have to repeat a voice command or rephrase the voice command so that it is easier for Alexa to respond. On the other hand, with AI, communicating with Alexa would be more efficient, and it has been indicated that it might be able to perform multiple tasks at the same time or allow the execution of a series of tasks that minimize constant user involvement. If that is realized the “new” Alexa could be a game changer.
The Bottom Line
CES 2025 had one central theme — the integration of AI into almost every segment of consumer A/V and that includes the connected home, connected city, automobiles, music, movies, gaming, news media, and it’s clear that the investment into the technology will extend well beyond the largest technology companies like Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA.
Consumer electronics giants such as Samsung and LG are pushing their R&D teams to come up with innovative products that can benefit from the next generation of AI software and it’s clear that Amazon does not plan on being left behind.
One advantage is their dominance of the consumer A/V retail segment which gives them a huge advantage over the competition outside of Apple, and the global-wide base of products that already utilize Alexa.
We wonder if the upgrade will only apply to Amazon Alexa products or will the Alexa AI update work out of the gate with anything that is Alexa-compatible.
How will Amazon’s upcoming Alexa AI upgrade fit in? We should find out on February 26th, 2025. This is definitely a continuing story.
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February 9, 2025 at 11:06 pm
Hmmmmmmm…Does this mean Alexa will be kind enough to compute Pi to over 100 decimals again? It used to do so much more. I axed it to do so as a retaliatory move against it ignoring my requests for Real Jazz or worse still, putting on some “music” that really sucked baboon butt.
Given my background, I will just unplug the device if it pisseth me offeth. I have 2 Marshall speakers that use Alexa. I only recently plugged them back in. Yup. The glitch is back.
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