7 days ago
One of the Best Alexa+ Features Has Been Delayed
Alexa+ is Amazon's upgraded assistant with generative AI for better natural language understanding.
New features include a desktop experience for sharing information to enhance Alexa's knowledge.
Web interface for Alexa+ was delayed, now expected no sooner than July 31st.
Earlier this year, Amazon announced a revamped and upgraded assistant experience called "Alexa+." This "smarter, more conversation, more capable" assistant is free for Prime subscribers, but you'll need to wait a bit longer for one of its best features.
Alexa+ is a new version of Alexa that has been infused with generative AI. Think of it like Amazon's version of Gemini. The promise is that it will be better at understanding natural language—which is also Google's hope in replacing Google Assistant. Amazon also claims it will get better over time as it adjusts to your schedules and preferences.
One of the features that Amazon showed off alongside Alexa+ was a new desktop expirience. This is where you can share information with Alexa to build up its knowledge base. A few examples Amazon gave were sending a picture of a live music schedule to have Alexa add the details to your calendar, and uploading study materials to have Alexa build a quiz for you. Alexa+ will also be available on the desktop in a similar format as ChatGPT, where you can enter prompts.
Now, these features will also be present in the mobile apps, but there previously wasn't a great way to do any of this on the desktop. Amazon's web apps are notoriously not very good. Originally, the web interface was supposed to launch by the end of June—which we've obviously already passed. The new target is "no sooner than July 31," according to documents seen by The Washington Post.
Amazon says "around 90 percent of the features announced in February are already available" for Alexa+, but the web interface is not one of them. You can still sign up to be notified when Alexa+ is available for you, or skip the line and buy an Echo Show 8, 15, or 21 to get early access. For non-Prime subscribers, Alexa+ is $15 per month or $139 per year.
Via: AFTVnews
