I do not want to overestimate things but, between us, Alexa more maybe the Alexa that you expected. Amazon has unveiled its redesign as a massive digital assistant, which makes the platform more intelligent, more conversational, more personal, proactive and a real doing. I might have considered it all a little media threshing if I had not seen as many living demos and, yes, I even tried for myself.
Alexa Plus is Amazon’s first attempt to a real generative AI system that can respond to invites in natural language, keep the context, recall facts about you and your life, and quickly resolve the guests that range from the construction of grocery lists to determine if someone has traveled the family dog.
After the CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, gave us a deep diving and Amazon model, the Panos Panay devices and other leaders have traveled to us the details of the new Alexa Plus (with Alexa.com and the new application), Amazon traveled me a series of demos that illustrate new and formidable platforms for AI powers. The leaders tell me that the device manages its requests locally on the device and in the cloud. The decision depends on complexity, and those that require AI models will be largely in the cloud.
Finally, a really intelligent house
The Demo Alexa Plus Smart Home was a real revelation of the eyes from the point of view of the impact. The vice-president of Amazon Alexa Scott Durhan showed us in an echo program (all the demos were on the intelligent 21-inch screen) how he could say to Alexa, “I went in business, can I see a quick summary of what happened in the house during my absence?” Alexa Plus works with Ring (also owned by Amazon) and uses the new intelligent video research of the platform (a premium service) to quickly find video snapshots of the house which are within this period.
One of the characteristics of the new Alexa Plus is its ability to maintain the context and answer follow -up questions. Durham asked if his dog had made walks in this time, and Alexa Plus returned videos showing when the dog was taken outside. Durham, in particular, did not have to repeat the name of Alexa or to state every detail of what he wanted in the prompt (they call this old way of engaging with the digital assistant “Alexa Speak”) to add details like the fact that he has a dog or his name.
Durham had shared this information previously with Alexa Plus, and we remember her memories and integrated into the system.
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One of my frustrations with the current Alexa platform is that, even when you use the application, it is always incredibly difficult to set up routines. I just want to talk to Alexa and get there. Durham showed me how you can now just describe what you want, “I’m going to be absent for a week, can you create a routine so that the lights come and look like someone’s house.” A moment later, Alexa Plus created a routine of “modes outside 7 pm at 9 pm”. It was simple and effective.
There is also the long -standing problem of the name of intelligent gadgets at home and Alexa does not respond correctly, unless you use this exact name in your request. Alexa Plus does not seem to care about a significant imprecision. You can say that you want it to turn off a light in the living room, and that will turn off the light in this room, which is called “Sofa Light”, even if you have not called it by name.
I only hope that Alexa Plus works as well in the real world (read “My Smart Home”).
We have also taken a look at the next Alexa Plus grocery functionality, which can work with Amazon Fresh (among other grocers) to build meal plans and grocery lists based on skeletal information.
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I told Alexa more than I wanted to build a dinner for vegetarians who love meat products. Soon, I had dishes using ingredients like beyond meat. When I asked for accompaniment dishes that would work, he remembered the vegetarian aspect and found foods like corn on the Torchage and the vegetarian cabbage salad.
@Techradar ♬ Sound Original – Techradar
Alexa Plus can then take these recipes and turn a list of shopping that you can modify by pressing the screen or asking it to modify specific grocery items. Alexa’s ability to stay in the moment was remarkable.
Sucks documents and details
Alexa Plus can also read the documents you send an e-mail to [email protected]. Sending Alexa, one of your emails may seem strange and a confidentiality problem, but assuming that you trust Amazon, it’s quite easy to do.
We have seen how when you send an e-mail to Alexa describing a next tennis match (you can also send PDF, Word documents and TXT files), Alexa Plus can identify that there is an event and add it automatically to your calendar, which will appear in the Echo show. If the doc has several events, Alexa Plus sends you an email and will ask you which one you want to add. We have seen how you can question Alexa Plus and ask: “Where is my first match?”
If there is a small detail you need in the email, you can wonder about this and then tell Alexa more to memorize it and remember if you need equipment for the match.
Naturally, Amazon leaders have shown us how easy it is to go from the match to ask Alexa Plus to help you find a new tennis racket. He can even monitor offers on the racket of your choice. For the moment, this only works with Amazon and not third -party retailers.
It’s entertainment
One of the most entertaining demos was to use Alexa Plus to discover and find music and films with only little information.
Looking at this demo, I had the impression that Amazon had to listen to conversations between me and my wife, where we try to describe a film or a television program: “He has this guy from Dawson’s Creek, but he is on a boat …?”
I looked at Alexa Plus skillfully managing guests like: “What is the song Phoebe thinks he is about Tony Danza?” Alexa Plus knew that it was “Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer” and we were referring to the episode of friends where Phoebe thinks that it is Who’s The Boss? star.
We have gone through a series of film prompts that reminded me of Jeopardy! Questions where we failed to reduce Alexa Plus.
Alexa Plus is not only intelligent on entertainment; It is also good enough to manage the way you appreciate it in a way that makes customization dead simple.
We started on an echo program that was “in the kitchen” and asked Alexa to play “The Song at the End of the Breakfast Club” in the living room (an Echo studio). Then we asked him to change the music to the living room (another echo studio on the other side of the demonstration space). Finally, the executive told Alexa more than he was going to “make dishes, move him there”, and Alexa Plus transferred the music to the echo show in the “kitchen”.
Guess with precision “don’t forget me”, to skillfully move music without all the specific details he usually takes, Alexa plus the entertainment skills fueled by AI seem great.
Exciting but
It was a series of impressive demos, but I have questions about confidentiality and support for echoes without screen. Amazon has already confirmed that all echo will not support Alexa Plus (they will always work with the original Alexa), but I wonder what the experience on smart speakers will look like.
The integration of the rings is exciting, but you must pay for this video function. Otherwise, questions about activities in the past two weeks may not offer anything.
I am happy that Amazon understands Alexa Plus to Amazon Prime. It is difficult to imagine paying $ 19.99 per month for the privilege of using it.
I also wonder how Claude d’Anthropic is at work here. Amazon called them partners, but are we still talking to Alexa, or is it now Claude in Alexa Plus Clothing?
Even thus, this is the change that Alexa desperately needs, and I think it is prudent to say that Amazon has officially entered the race for AI consumers.
