Last week, Amazon announced its quarterly earnings, and during the investors call, CEO Andy Jassy made a statement saying that the company wants to make Alexa “the world’s best personal assistant.” He also added that the e-commerce giant is developing larger and much more capable large language models (LLMs) for that purpose. A new report has now shed more light on the same, claiming that Amazon is looking to add ChatGPT-like AI chatbot technology to Alexa, its popular voice assistant.
The report, published by Business Insider via The Verge, claims that Amazon is relying on an indigenously developed LLM, which will power a newer and more capable Alexa. Amazon calls its LLM Alexa Teacher Model, and a company spokesperson has echoed Jassy’s comments, saying that Amazon is building larger, “more generalised and capable” LLMs to make Alexa “more proactive and conversational.” The spokesperson also said that Alexa has been using the Teacher model for several years.
Just like Amazon, Google also relies on its own language models for its voice assistant, called Bard, but Microsoft Bing uses models developed by OpenAI, the company in which Microsoft invested billions.
Amazon reportedly wants Alexa to think instead of “fetching from a database.” In one section of the document, titled “Alexa LLM Entertainment Use Cases,” it is suggested that the new AI system will help Alexa make media recommendations, news delivery, and storytelling more conversational. There is an example in the document according to which, if a user asks, “Alexa, find that HBO or Netflix show where rich people go on vacation to Sicily or Hawaii,” Alexa figures out that the show is ‘The White Lotus.’ If a user asks what the cast is, Alexa responds with the name of the cast.
In another example related to FireTV, when a user asks Alexa about the HBO subscription price after the trial, Alexa tells the price and even asks if the user wants to subscribe (through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels). This example shows how Amazon is trying to make Alexa more conversational and capable of handling more complex queries and tasks.
The move by Amazon to develop larger and more capable LLMs for Alexa is not surprising, as the use of AI in voice assistants has become increasingly popular in recent years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are working from home, which has led to a surge in demand for voice assistants. According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global voice assistant market is expected to grow from USD 1.3 billion in 2020 to USD 5.2 billion by 2024, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.2% during the forecast period.
The report also suggests that the growth of the voice assistant market is driven by factors such as the increasing adoption of smart homes, the growing trend of using voice-enabled devices for online shopping, and the rising demand for AI-based customer support services. As the demand for voice assistants continues to grow, companies like Amazon will need to develop more advanced AI capabilities to remain competitive in the market.
In conclusion, Amazon’s plan to develop larger and more capable LLMs for Alexa is a significant move that could help the company maintain its dominant position in the voice assistant market. By adding ChatGPT-like AI chatbot technology to Alexa, Amazon could make the voice assistant more conversational and capable of handling more complex queries and tasks. With the global voice assistant market expected to grow rapidly over the next few years, it will be interesting to see how Amazon and other companies continue to innovate in this space.
Voice assistants have become an integral part of many households and businesses worldwide. From setting reminders to controlling smart home devices, voice assistants are used for a variety of tasks. With the advancements in AI and natural language processing (NLP), voice assistants have become more sophisticated and capable of handling complex queries.
