'ChatGPT Nawa'... Amazon Unveils Conversational AI 'Alexa'

Children's Version to Be Released Within the Year

Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, has unveiled 'Alexa,' an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that communicates through voice. Intense competition with ChatGPT, a leader in generative AI, is expected.

On the 20th (local time), Amazon introduced a smarter AI assistant at its second headquarters located in Arlington, Virginia.

First launched in 2014, Alexa is an AI voice assistant embedded in Amazon's Echo speakers and other devices. This time, it has been equipped with generative capabilities based on a new large language model (LLM) that allows users to ask and answer questions. While OpenAI's ChatGPT is an AI that can converse through prompt input, Alexa can be described as an AI that communicates through voice.

At the event, Amazon demonstrated Alexa engaging in real-time conversations similar to a chatbot. Alexa's 'Let's Chat' feature provides functions performed by generative AI chatbots and can also perform tasks such as storytelling, providing recipes, date ideas, and the latest game scores.

David Limp, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Devices, stated, "Alexa can now interact almost like a human."

The conversational Alexa has been applied to Amazon's media player Fire TV, the new Echo 8 speaker, and other devices. Amazon also plans to offer the new Alexa as a preview to all existing Echo speaker owners.

Additionally, Amazon plans to release a separate version of Alexa within the year, designed to safely answer questions for children.