Amazon’s generative-AI-powered Alexa is as big a privacy red flag as old Alexa

Amazon wants you to use Alexa more. But can you trust it?

Amazon Alexa using generative AI on an Echo Show

Enlarge / Alexa using generative AI to create a taco poem. (credit: Amazon News/YouTube)

Amazon is trying to make Alexa simpler and more intuitive for users through the use of a new large language model (LLM). During its annual hardware event Wednesday, Amazon demoed the generative-AI-powered Alexa that users can soon preview on Echo devices. But in all its talk of new features and a generative-AI-fueled future, Amazon barely acknowledged the longstanding elephant in the room: privacy.

Amazon's devices event featured a new Echo Show 8, updated Ring devices, and new Fire TV sticks. But most interesting was a look at how the company is trying to navigate generative AI hype and the uncertainty around the future of voice assistants. Amazon said users will be able to start previewing Alexa's new features via any Echo device, including the original, in a few weeks.

Alexa's added features are enabled by a new LLM that Amazon says was fine-tuned for voice conversations and that uses algorithms for body language and intonation recognition. The company was clear that Alexa will focus on generative AI going forward. But the new features are in their early stages, Amazon noted, so bumps, bugs, and errors are expected at first.

Read 28 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Schlauere Amazon-KI für Echo und Fire TV: Alexa kann bald chatten und Bilder malen

Im Zuge des KI-Trends baut Amazon sein Sprachmodell aus und will Alexa viel natürlichere Konversationen und sogar etwas Kreativität beibringen. Einiges konnte Golem.de schon ausprobieren. Ein Hands-on von Berti Kolbow-Lehradt (Amazon Alexa, Amazon)

Im Zuge des KI-Trends baut Amazon sein Sprachmodell aus und will Alexa viel natürlichere Konversationen und sogar etwas Kreativität beibringen. Einiges konnte Golem.de schon ausprobieren. Ein Hands-on von Berti Kolbow-Lehradt (Amazon Alexa, Amazon)

EU-Pläne zur Führerscheinreform: Und was ist mit Elektroautos?

Löbliche Ziele, weltfremde Ideen: Der Vorschlag der Verhandlungsführerin im EU-Parlament zur Führerscheinklasse B könnte nach hinten losgehen. Ein IMHO von Friedhelm Greis (Elektroauto, Politik)

Löbliche Ziele, weltfremde Ideen: Der Vorschlag der Verhandlungsführerin im EU-Parlament zur Führerscheinklasse B könnte nach hinten losgehen. Ein IMHO von Friedhelm Greis (Elektroauto, Politik)