At an event in New York, Amazon has pulled the covers off its next generation of Alexa, called Alexa+. The new system is designed to be more conversational, smarter, and to actually get things done.
Amazon says that Alexa+ is plugged into everything you do, all your apps and services, so that instead of just starting tasks, Alexa+ will be able to take things through to completion, which is often the criticism of current AI services.
Amazon’s head of devices and services, Panos Panay, live demoed the new system on stage, showing off the conversational characteristics of the new system. With the new Alexa+, you won’t need you to say “Alexa” each time you want to interact, and it can gauge your tone and respond accordingly.
To accompany the new Alexa+ experience, there are new animations that are more emotive – called Alexa-cons – which you’ll get when using Alexa+ on screened devices, like the Echo Show 8 for example.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Alexa+ takes familiar Alexa experiences and makes them much more advanced, for example allowing seamless control of your speakers with natural language that’s more diverse: you won’t just be able to tell Alexa where to play the music, but where not to play the music – for example, “Alexa, play music but don’t disturb the kids” and that will leave out the kids bedrooms.
Looking to integrate more services, Amazon showed off a demo using Ring cameras, where you can ask what happened around your home, so you can search for particular events, like someone walking the dog or a package delivery, rather than having to scan your entire timeline of events.
With the theme of making Alexa more useful, Amazon said that Alexa+ is plugged into “tens of thousands of partners”, giving Alexa the power to complete a full range of tasks. From making restaurant reservations through OpenTable, to making Uber bookings – and sending out confirmations and messages, Alexa can now do a lot more than it could before, and in a much simpler way.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
New Alexa will be able to extract information from other documents that are shared with it. For example, you could send through details about a school event so that Alexa has that information and can learn it. Then you can ask for the specifics, such as finding the timings and adding to your calendar or setting reminders, making Alexa a lot more powerful.
To expand the range of possibilities, there’s going to be a new app for Alexa, as well as the launch of Alexa.com, giving you a browser-based point of interaction too.
“We’re moving the world from chat bots to something entirely new”, said Panos Panay at the event. Prior to launch, there were a lot of rumours about the cost that might come with Alexa+. That’s true: at $19.99, Alexa+ is an expensive monthly addition – but it’s free for Amazon Prime subscribers.
Alexa+ will be rolling out in the coming months – there’s no word on when it will be available outside the US.
