How Amazon Blew Alexa's Shot To Dominate AI

Amazon unveiled a new generative AI-powered version of its Alexa voice assistant at a packed event in September 2023, demonstrating how the digital assistant could engage in more natural conversation. However, nearly a year later, the updated Alexa has yet to be widely released, with former employees citing technical challenges and organizational dysfunction as key hurdles, Fortune reported Thursday. The magazine reports that the Alexa large language model lacks the necessary data and computing power to compete with rivals like OpenAI. Additionally, Amazon has prioritized AI development for its cloud computing unit, AWS, over Alexa, the report said. Despite a $4 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic, privacy concerns and internal politics have prevented Alexa's teams from fully leveraging Anthropic's technology.

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