According to industry sources, as reported by Reuters, Amazon's new version of Alexa, with built-in AI, will be powered by Anthropic's Claude AI, rather than Amazon's custom AI.
Anthropic’s Claude has long been touted as a great alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but it doesn’t have a voice mode, so partnering with Amazon via Alexa opens the door to a lot of possibilities. We also wonder if we’ll see a new Alexa with a display that can actually take advantage of AI, though Claude doesn’t have any built-in imaging capabilities.
As we recently reported, instead of sticking to the free model we’re used to, the AI-powered version of Alexa will cost between $5 and $10 a month. Whether people will be willing to part with another $10 a month just to use AI on their Alexa device is another question. After Google charged $20 a month for Gemini Advanced, which is required to use the vaunted voice mode features on its new Pixel 9 smartphone, some in the industry have already expressed concerns about the rising cost of AI. At this point, we’re so used to AI being free that even a small monthly charge can seem excessive.
Many expected Amazon to develop its own AI, just like Facebook did with its Llama LLM. However, according to industry sources, the response speed of its own in-house AI was too slow, so Amazon turned to Claude from Anthropic. Choosing Claude as an out-of-the-box solution is a great idea and it’s nothing new for big names like Amazon to ask for a little help with their AI offering. Microsoft was an early investor in OpenAI and uses ChatGPT to power Copilot on Windows. Apple is also using ChatGPT for situations beyond the scope of Siri’s built-in AI in the new iOS 18.
Claude recently received praise for adding an Artifacts feature to all users, even on the free tier, which opens a separate window to show you the results of the project it’s helping you create, while you continue having a conversation about it in another window. The idea is that you can see in real time the effects of any tweaks and edits you make. Of course, this is more useful for people working on things like research projects or coding than for the kinds of tasks Alexa is designed for, and Alexa devices have predominantly been screenless.
New features we know are coming to Alexa
The new AI-powered Alexa will be able to answer complex questions in the same way Google’s Gemini Live does, so you could ask her to help you plan your first week of college, bring you a recipe for a casserole, or design a workout plan to help you get fit. But there’s more. Leaked documents obtained by the Washington Post recently revealed five new features coming to Alexa in October, including smart reporting, a more personalized response, cooking help, a shopping finder, and an AI assistant for kids.
Currently, Alexa is primarily used to set timers and alarms, and adding AI could be the key to unlocking its true potential and giving us a truly smart speaker. Imagine being able to have deep conversations with your kitchen speaker about life, the universe, and everything in between.
You can try Anthropic Claude for free right now on its website to see what it's capable of. Like ChatGPT, it's a multimodal AI, so you can upload images and ask questions about them, write code in various programming languages, or just chat and ask it what hobbies you should take up.
