Amazon’s Alexa is struggling to keep pace with competitors like Apple’s Siri and Google’s Gemini, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. The company is facing challenges in developing a more intelligent AI system for Alexa, hindered by outdated technology and a lack of clear direction from leadership. Despite some improvements since 2023, Alexa has not evolved significantly and has even become less effective at managing smart home requests. Future updates appear to be delayed, putting Amazon at a disadvantage in the growing AI market.
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Amazon Alexa peine à rivaliser avec ses concurrents comme Siri d’Apple et Gemini de Google, selon un rapport récent de Bloomberg. L’entreprise fait face à des défis pour développer un système d’IA plus intelligent pour Alexa, freiné par une technologie obsolète et un manque de direction claire de la part de la direction. Malgré des améliorations depuis 2023, Alexa n’a pas évolué de manière significative et est même devenue moins efficace dans la gestion des demandes de maisons intelligentes. Les mises à jour futures semblent retardées, plaçant Amazon dans une position désavantageuse sur le marché croissant de l’IA.
As we emerge from what many are calling the summer of AI, it’s evident that this technology is firmly entrenched in our lives. With major players like Apple and Google unveiling their own AI models, we also see dedicated AI firms such as OpenAI and Perplexity expanding and integrating more deeply into various platforms.
Despite this progress, Amazon’s Alexa, a potential pioneer in the AI space, is still struggling to keep pace.
A recent exclusive report from Bloomberg has revealed that Amazon continues to face challenges in developing an effective ‘AI brain’ for Alexa. For those who have tracked Amazon’s increasingly urgent endeavors to enhance Alexa, much of this latest information will be familiar.
At the beginning of summer, in June, Fortune published a report indicating that Amazon remains far from launching Alexa 2.0. At that time, Google was revealing substantial upgrades to its Gemini AI assistant, Apple was preparing to showcase Siri 2.0, and OpenAI had just announced GPT-4o.
Since then, the integration of AI technologies has only become more pronounced, with OpenAI releasing ChatGPT Search to compete with Google and Apple starting to implement new features for Apple Intelligence, including ChatGPT integration within Siri. Furthermore, Google is anticipated to introduce Gemini 2.0 in December.
As detailed by Fortune and echoed by Bloomberg, several factors contribute to the struggles of enhancing Alexa. One insider remarked that Alexa ‘resembles an automated phone tree more than a true AI.’
Bloomberg’s reports suggest that Amazon’s leadership has not provided a clear vision, and the outdated infrastructure further complicates progress.
The report states that Alexa was designed using a rules-based framework that generated predictable responses, which does not align with Amazon’s intended vision for a conversational assistant. Consequently, Alexa has been unable to respond to spontaneous inquiries or provide real-time sports scores.
Interestingly, under the guidance of CEO Andy Jassy since 2023, the Alexa team has made improvements. However, this has resulted in a voice assistant that occasionally generates inaccuracies and goes off-topic.
Despite all these efforts to enhance Alexa’s chatbot capabilities, the voice assistant has paradoxically become less effective in handling smart home tasks.
Initially, it was anticipated that Amazon would have a significant update for 2024. Although the company announced new generative AI functionalities for Alexa in January, this timeline has now shifted to October 2024 and is evolving into an uncertain timeframe in 2025.
Amazon was contacted for comments, and we will update this article if the company provides a response. In June, representatives from Amazon suggested that prior information was outdated or disputed claims about their access to AI from companies within their own portfolio, like the Claude LLM. For Bloomberg’s report, it seems that Amazon chose not to comment.
Meanwhile, rivals are outpacing Amazon in both the chatbot and AI-driven smart home markets.
As observed in previous reports, Alexa is falling behind, and it remains unclear whether Amazon understands how to define the future capabilities of its original voice assistant.
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