Amazon is hoping that its own generative AI might generate income if Alexa struggles

Voice assistants have scarcely moved beyond their early promise as an easy, futuristic method to receive information and complete simple tasks. Also, voice assistants are surrounded by uncertainty due to the lack of progress. For instance, Google reportedly transferred Assistant staff to Bard and shut down third-party Google Assistant smart displays. Amazon has hopes of combining its generative AI efforts with its struggling Alexa business, whereas Google Assistant and Google’s experimental Bard chatbot presently feel like different products with different functions.

It’s no secret that Amazon is having trouble making ends meet, which has increased interest in turning Alexa into a reliable cash stream. According to an Insider article, Alexa was expected to lose $10 billion in 2022 because consumers weren’t sufficiently engaged in ways that would generate revenue for Amazon. Meanwhile, Amazon is going through its biggest round of layoffs, and just last week it revealed it was ending its Halo fitness and sleep tracker line.

Will generative AI bring in money for Alexa?

Before discontinuing Halo, Amazon apparently considered adding more AI features, such as the ability for trackers to analyze user workout data and send it to Amazon using a smartphone camera and computer vision. We weren’t keen to trust Amazon with such intrusive AI usage, but it appears that Amazon is moving part of that energy to Alexa.

A «leaked document» named «Alexa LLM [long language model] Entertainment Use Cases» was highlighted in an Insider story on Tuesday.

According to reports, it reveals strategies for enhancing Alexa’s capacity for «thinking vs. fetching from a database.»

An Amazon representative told Insider that instead of using an open source methodology like other Big Tech companies do, the AI is built using a customized Framework known as the Alexa Teacher Model. Alexa has been utilizing it for years, but according to an Amazon representative, the company is «developing new models that are much larger and much more broad and competent» to make Alexa «more proactive and conversational.»

According to Insider, the internal document offers an illustration of what this upgraded Alexa would be capable of. One observes Alexa writing a bedtime story in response to a child’s instruction, such as «cat and a moon.» Amazon is reportedly researching utilizing an Echo Show smart display camera to identify a toy the child is holding and include it into the story. This shows Amazon’s interest in leveraging cameras to help its AI, according to Insider. Yet, this kind of private data acquisition for the purpose of voice assistant capabilities would probably raise questions. The Verge reported earlier this week that Amazon staff members «expressed pause» on integrating computer vision into the Halo subscription service.

This storytelling function could produce money by encouraging corporate partnerships. According to Insider, the leaked paper listed Lego «and others» as potential partners and made reference to the fictitious youngster carrying a toy of Olaf from Frozen that Alexa would add to its story.

Amazon has been attempting to generate income through Alexa partnerships with companies like Domino’s and Uber, but this newly reported potential use raises concerns about whether Amazon is considering dubious methods (that, hopefully, would require user consent) in the name of a distinctive, generative AI experience. According to the internal memo, the stories would be interactive if they required the user to create a similar illustration on an Echo Show display or to add to the AI story.

According to Insider, the leaked memo also considers how to use Fire TVs to increase Alexa’s usefulness. Amazon is allegedly doing well with its Fire TV sets and streaming devices, which have the ability to provide experiences that generate income but are more difficult to duplicate with, for instance, smart speakers without screens. This involves connecting customers to Prime Video and other streaming services while enabling interaction with digital content.