<![CDATA[ Amazon apresenta versão modernizada do assistente Alexa ]]>

Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a modernized version of its Alexa voice assistant, called Alexa+, which builds on advances made in recent years in artificial intelligence (AI).

The battle for AI is largely being played out in everyday use, and Amazon can count on a fleet of more than 600 million devices already equipped with Alexa.

Revolutionary, like its Apple equivalent (2011), Siri, when it was launched in 2014, Alexa appeared, in its original version, limited in the face of the latest AI developments.

The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 opened up a field for the use of so-called generative AI, that is, producing responses and content to requests formulated in everyday language.

In the field of vocal assistants, Microsoft now offers an audio version of its Copilot and Google makes the same available with its new generative AI software, Gemini.

With Alexa+, Amazon wants to reposition itself in this market undergoing profound restructuring.

"I'm not just an assistant," Alexa+ explained during a demo in New York City, "I'm your best friend in the digital world. I'm humorous, I'm knowledgeable, and I have a genuine desire to make your life easier and more fun."

The old Alexa was used mainly for relatively simple tasks, such as playing a piece of music, giving the weather forecast or turning on the lights in a house.

Alexa+'s capabilities are closer to a virtual agent, capable of following orders.

You can reserve a table at a restaurant or look for concerts that might interest the owner and look for tickets.

In homes equipped with interconnected objects, you can also, for example, based on images filmed by surveillance cameras, see if someone has already gone out to walk the dog.

Amazon has also worked on the interaction between the user and the assistant, to make them more fluid, said Panos Panay, the vice president for devices and services.

"The way you speak doesn't matter," he said. "It's meant to be natural. You don't have to think about it. There's no 'Alexa+ language.'"