Latest news with #AlexaPlus
Time of India
29-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
New York Times to let Amazon use its stories to train AI models
The New York Times for the first time has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon which the tech major can use to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Amazon products, like the Alexa smart speakers, could use the summaries and short excerpts of NYT stories and cooking recipes, while and the company's AI models , could now learn from them. The deal comes even as NYT continues its legal battle with OpenAI and Microsoft after suing them in 2023 for copyright infringement. The renowned news publication is seeking billions of dollars in damages from the tech giants for allegedly using millions of its articles to build the AI models underpinning OpenAI's ChatGPT. "The deal is consistent with our long-held principle that high-quality journalism is worth paying for,' NYT chief executive officer (CEO) Meredith Kopit Levien wrote in an internal memo Thursday. 'It aligns with our deliberate approach to ensuring that our work is valued appropriately, whether through commercial deals or through the enforcement of our intellectual property rights.' Media companies are increasingly concerned that AI models are using their content without proper authorisation or compensation. These AI models can quickly generate text, images, and code that resemble human work. Several media organisations, including News Corp, Axel Springer, and the Financial Times, have entered into licensing agreements with OpenAI. These deals have provided publishers with millions of dollars. However, some news executives consider these agreements temporary, awaiting the establishment of a more permanent legal structure. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories OpenAI faces copyright challenges because its models rely on vast amounts of data collected from the internet. In response to a lawsuit filed by The New York Times, OpenAI stated the suit was 'without merit' and that the newspaper was not 'telling the full story'. Amazon is also developing AI products, including its Alexa Plus voice assistant. The company has invested significantly in Anthropic, a startup whose Claude models compete with OpenAI. While Amazon's AI models currently lag behind OpenAI's in technical capabilities, the company is focused on reducing costs.
The Verge
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Verge
The New York Times' first generative AI deal is with Amazon
The New York Times has struck a multi-year AI licensing deal with Amazon that will bring its 'editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the outlet announced on Thursday. Under the agreement, Amazon will include summaries and short excerpts of The Times' content in products like Alexa, and will also use Times articles to help train its AI models. The deal comes over a year after The Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, accusing the companies of 'copying and using millions' of its articles to train their AI models, while depriving the publication of subscription, licensing, advertising, and affiliate revenue. Several other outlets have sued OpenAI on similar grounds, including The Intercept, Raw Story, CBC/Radio-Canada, and the owner of IGN and CNET. Other publishers, like The Atlantic, News Corp, and The Verge parent company Vox Media have struck AI licensing deals. In addition to using content from The Times, Amazon will also draw from the outlet's sports-focused outlet, The Athletic, and its recipe hub, NYT Cooking. Amazon launched its AI-upgraded Alexa Plus in early access earlier this year and claims 'hundreds of thousands of customers' have tried the assistant. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 'The deal is consistent with our long-held principle that high-quality journalism is worth paying for,' Meredith Kopit Levien, the CEO of The New York Times Company, said in a statement to the Times. 'It aligns with our deliberate approach to ensuring that our work is valued appropriately, whether through commercial deals or through the enforcement of our intellectual property rights.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Andy Jassy continually explaining Amazon's AI bets is something other CEOs can learn from
In today's CEO Daily: Jason Del Rey on the leadership lessons from Amazon's annual shareholder meeting. The big story: OpenAI is acquiring io, an AI product startup founded by the creator of the iPhone. The markets: Ticking down. Analyst notes from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune. Good morning. This is Jason Del Rey, Fortune's tech correspondent, covering for Diane while she's traveling. Yesterday, I listened to Amazon's annual shareholder meeting, which was about as unexciting as any big, powerful company could hope for. Investors voted down all shareholder proposals, which called for more oversight over or transparency from the tech titan. But I did find it noteworthy that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy used this forum as another opportunity to build trust in Amazon's heavy AI spending spree, as I wrote yesterday. The tech giant is unleashing around $100 billion in capital expenditures this year, primarily focused on this space, compared to $78 billion in 2024. And the way he's explaining and justifying those costs to stakeholders is something that other chief executives could potentially learn from. The CEO cited gen AI uses across two realms: 'cost avoidance and productivity' and 'altogether new customer experiences.' In the first bucket, he referenced the company's existing core customer service chatbot, which was rearchitected using gen AI, as well as gen AI tools that help Amazon sellers create new listings quicker, and ones that help the company forecast customer demand for inventory more accurately. In the second bucket, Jassy breezed through a bevy of customer-facing products, from the Rufus shopping assistant to the new Alexa Plus voice assistant, which the company began rolling out to a limited customer base last month. Jassy's continued focus on explaining the company's AI bets publicly—both here as well as recently on the company's earnings calls and at company events for the press and partners—might sound repetitive for ultra-close observers of the company like me. But the consistency seems like a smart move for a CEO with so many stakeholders to worry about—shareholders, shopping customers, AWS customers, sellers, corporate and front-line employees, and potential talent as well. Obviously the advantage Jassy has, that many other CEOs don't, is a bevy of consumer-facing gen AI-powered products that are easier for the general public, and internal employee base, to focus on rather than some of the thornier—maybe more mainstream use cases initially being adopted by other companies. That's to say for every Rufus or Alexa Plus or AI-powered customer review summary box that Jassy can point to, many smaller companies are staring down initial gen AI use cases that focus on replacing human work or, at a minimum, reducing the amount of work necessary for human staff—with workforce reduction a natural result if not a goal. And messaging that to the public is a much trickier task. More news CEO Daily via Diane Brady at This story was originally featured on
Hans India
19-05-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Amazon Expands Alexa Plus Access, Says 'Hundreds of Thousands' Already Invited
Amazon claims it is steadily expanding access to Alexa Plus, the generative AI-powered version of its voice assistant, though questions linger about its actual availability. First announced in February, Alexa Plus is free for Amazon Prime members or costs $19.99 per month for others. According to the company, the upgraded assistant is already in use by 'hundreds of thousands of customers.' Despite these numbers, scepticism remains. A recent Reuters report highlighted difficulties in locating real-world users of Alexa Plus. The outlet combed through major platforms — including YouTube, TikTok, X, Instagram, Facebook, Twitch, and Amazon product reviews — in search of verified users but found little success. While two Reddit users claimed to have used Alexa Plus, Reuters noted they 'did not provide… hard evidence and their identities could not be corroborated.' Nonetheless, Engadget reported that a wave of emails had been sent on Friday, inviting more users to try the assistant. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that the early access rollout, which began in late March, is ongoing, with more invites going out regularly. Initially, Alexa Plus lacked some anticipated features, such as contextual takeout ordering via Grubhub or the ability to recognise family members and send reminders. Amazon's support page indicates that several capabilities — including access via web browser, Fire TV, and Amazon tablets — are still listed as 'coming soon.' Amazon also says it's prioritising certain users, particularly those with specific Echo Show devices, for early access to Alexa Plus.
CNET
19-05-2025
- CNET
I'm Still Waiting for Amazon's Big Alexa AI Upgrade: Here's What to Know About the Delay
We attended Amazon's February announcement of a massive Alexa AI upgrade with great interest. The new service, called Alexa Plus, promised us conversational AI to set reservations, learn what we like, analyze home video for us and control our smart entertainment on the fly -- even if it came with a wee bit of privacy loss. The enhanced Alexa was supposed to be ready to try in March. Now it's the middle of May and we're still waiting. I wish I could say I was surprised. Here's what's happening and why Echo users should practice their patience. Read more: Amazon Alexa Just Changed Its Privacy Settings. CNET Survey Reveals 73% of Device Users Were Already Worried Alexa Plus stalls out: We've seen this before Alexa Plus promised a lot. Reports indicate it's simply not ready yet. Amazon So, where's the AI? For now, it's still in early access, and that early access period appears to be limited. Even the few who have tried out Alexa Plus have been quiet about it. Those who've spoken up have said the AI is lacking critical features that were mentioned at the announcement, including ordering food on Grubhub with a conversation, entering into a story mode with kids, visually identifying family members during conversations, brainstorming ideas in a casual conversation mode, and using Alexa Plus on the Web. In other words, it's just not ready yet. Read more: The Best Smart Displays for 2025 I've seen this before, very recently, with Apple's announcement that it will be delaying Siri's big AI upgrade, not only for a year after WWDC 2024, but then again in 2025 and possibly for as long as until 2027 according to our latest info. It's possible Amazon watched the fallout from these delay announcements plus leaked employee complaints, and decided to be much quieter about the Alexa Plus rollout. Either way, it could be months before the average consumer sees an option to upgrade to Alexa Plus, and with staggered rollouts, some Amazon customers could be waiting quite some time for the chatty new Alexa. No one at CNET has gotten an early access look at Alexa Plus yet, but the testing period is still ongoing, so we're hopeful to get our hands on it very soon. Waiting for the Show The Amazon Alexa upgrades were announced on Feb. 26. Corin Cesaric/CNET We're ready with Amazon Echos, Echo Shows, home cameras, smart gadgets and more to test out just what's changed with Alexa Plus and what features have actually arrived (and what we still can't do). But for now, it looks like we're waiting for our own wake word -- and I wouldn't be surprised if Alexa Plus is on a similar trajectory to Siri's AI delays, sans the troubling announcements and exposes we saw with Apple. If you're desperate to see what Amazon is doing with the latest Alexa AI technology, there is a way to get to the front of the line. Amazon has mentioned that during the early access period, it will focus on releasing Alexa Plus for Echo Shows. If you have an Echo Show 8, Show 10, Show 15 or Show 21, you're more likely to see an offer for Alexa Plus if you sign up for the program. Otherwise, we'll keep you updated. Check out our AI Atlas to get the latest on Siri, Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok and, yes, Alexa Plus as we learn more and test out new capabilities. Read more: The Best Smart Speakers for 2025 (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
