Articles about Alexa

Amazon’s new Alexa+ uses generative AI to personalize conversations and automate tasks

Amazon unveiled Alexa+, a new service that integrates generative AI natively into the company’s longtime voice assistant — promising free-flowing… Read More

Amazon chipping in $10M in tips for customers who thank their delivery drivers during the holidays

The season of giving should also be a season of thanking — especially for the delivery drivers making sure packages get… Read More

Hands-on with the new Kindle Colorsoft: Is Amazon’s color e-reader worth the premium price?

It’s the Kindle Paperwhite, except it’s in color. You can see book covers in color, make highlights in color, and… Read More

Podcast

Podcast: Amazon devices chief Panos Panay on the color Kindle, AI, and his first year on the job

Our guest on this special mid-week episode of the GeekWire Podcast is Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of Devices… Read More

Claude meets Alexa: Amazon will reportedly use Anthropic’s AI to help power its voice assistant

Amazon will make its Alexa voice assistant more conversational with help from Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence technology, Reuters reported Friday… Read More

Report details financial pressure on Amazon Alexa, confirms plans for paid tier and AI revamp

Internal Amazon metrics have created a rosy view of the impact from Alexa and Echo on the company’s revenue from… Read More

Seven years later, longtime Echo Spot user sizes up the first revamp of Amazon’s tiny Alexa device

Amazon’s original Echo Spot has been sitting on the back corner of the desk in my home office for seven… Read More

Podcast

How smart home pioneer ecobee competes with Amazon and Google, and where it’s headed next

Greg Fyke is president and CEO of ecobee, the Toronto-based smart home company known for its pioneering smart thermostat, and… Read More

BMW tests Amazon’s Alexa LLM for ‘car expert’ that answers questions and changes drive modes

Can artificial intelligence replace the owner’s manual? At the CES trade show in Las Vegas this week, BMW is demonstrating… Read More

Internal memo: Amazon will cut ‘several hundred’ Alexa jobs as it ends unspecified initiatives

Amazon will eliminate several hundred roles in its Alexa division as part of a broader shift in priorities and a… Read More

Amazon’s Astro robot gets its first job, going to work as a security guard

Amazon is rolling out its Astro robot as a security guard for businesses, using its HD periscope and night vision… Read More

Amazon ordered to pay $46.7M in jury verdict over Alexa and Echo voice technologies

Amazon was ordered to pay $46.7 million after a jury found that the company willfully violated four patents held by… Read More

Amazon unveils new AI features in quest to make Alexa ‘superhuman’

It was tough, as usual, to keep up with the announcements coming out of Amazon’s fall Devices & Services event… Read More

Amazon previews Alexa ‘Let’s Chat’ feature for Echo devices, building on generative AI technology

Amazon this morning showed a new feature, dubbed “Let’s Chat” driven by generative artificial intelligence, designed to make its Alexa… Read More

Should Amazon be ‘pumped’ to land Panos Panay? A closer look at longtime Microsoft devices leader

Microsoft developed its first Surface tablet more than a decade ago under strict secrecy to give then-CEO Steve Ballmer the… Read More

Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to be integrated on the same devices for the first time

Amazon and Google are putting their rival voice assistants on the same devices for the first time, allowing users to… Read More

Amazon devices chief Dave Limp is leaving in latest executive departure

Dave Limp, the longtime leader of Amazon’s devices division, will step down later this year. Limp is leaving Amazon after… Read More

Podcast

Amazon’s Alexa chief on the rise of ChatGPT, and why the comparison isn’t fair to either

Why can’t Alexa users have sophisticated, nuanced voice interactions with Amazon’s assistant, similar to text-based conversations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT? That… Read More

Amazon is ending celebrity voices for Alexa that delivered weather, jokes and more

Amazon is muting the celebrity voices for Alexa that have been used to report the weather, tell jokes and more.… Read More

Amazon unveils Echo Pop, new Echo Buds; reports >500M Alexa device sales as AI upends market

Amazon unveiled a new Echo smart speaker, a $39.99 semi-sphere called Echo Pop, meant for bedrooms and other small spaces… Read More

Alexa vs. ChatGPT: Amazon building new AI models to make assistant more proactive, conversational

As new forms of generative AI spread across the tech world, it’s becoming tough for Alexa users to accept rudimentary… Read More

Asking Alexa to thank your Amazon delivery driver will trigger a $5 tip — paid for by the company

Update, Dec. 12: Customers looking to thank their Amazon delivery drivers with a $5 tip have run out of time,… Read More

Podcast

What’s wrong with Alexa: Former insider on the challenges facing Amazon’s AI voice assistant

Amazon created the initial technical scaffolding for Alexa quickly, jumping out to an early lead in the market for smart… Read More

Podcast

GeekWire Podcast: Layoffs land at Amazon HQ; Redfin’s real estate reversal; Jeff Bezos and Jay-Z

Amazon became the latest tech giant to make layoffs in its corporate workforce this week in the face of the… Read More

‘Alexa Built-In’ phones to lose key feature as Amazon cedes ground to Apple and Google

Unlike Google and Apple, Amazon doesn’t have a smartphone platform of its own for native integration of its voice assistant,… Read More

Amazon devices chief Dave Limp addresses layoffs in memo to employees

As Amazon has started the process of laying off employees from its corporate and tech workforce this week, one senior… Read More

Amazon’s new Halo Rise bedside device tracks sleep with radar sensor, low-power radio signals

Amazon unveiled a new bedside sleep-tracking device, Halo Rise, expanding its lineup of consumer health devices beyond wristbands for the… Read More

Amazon aims to take Alexa automation to the next level with new ambient home developer kit

When you leave home and arm your security system, shouldn’t your robot vacuum know, without being told, that it’s time… Read More

Amazon previews Alexa capability that synthesizes a person’s voice from less than a minute of audio

LAS VEGAS — A short video of a child asking Alexa to have his grandma read the Wizard of Oz… Read More

Lawsuit alleges Amazon uses Alexa interactions for ad targeting without users’ knowledge or consent

Amazon’s Alexa is the target of a new lawsuit alleging that the company is using information gathered from users of… Read More