"This week, Amazon will launch new Echo hardware designed to supercharge Alexa Plus, the AI-powered upgrade to its voice assistant. I've been using Alexa Plus for the last few months as part of its Early Access program, and while the new assistant is off to a promising start, it's still clearly a work in progress. To fix Alexa, Amazon had to break it apart and rebuild it. The result is a hybrid smart home assistant and personal assistant, as well as Amazon's answer to ChatGPT. Right now, it's not doing any of those things well enough."
"This is most obvious in the smart home. Controlling my lights, locks, and robot vacuum with natural language rather than precise phrases is a huge improvement, as is not having to say "Alexa" repeatedly and being able to interrupt, um and er, and change my mind mid-thought., But we are still far from the dream of a Star Trek-style "Computer." Today, running on underpowered hardware and with what feels like a surface-level integration into my smart home, Alexa Plus often leaves me frustrated."
Amazon is launching new Echo hardware to enhance Alexa Plus, an AI-powered upgrade to the voice assistant. Alexa Plus combines smart home control and personal assistant functions and is framed as Amazon's answer to ChatGPT. Natural-language control enables multi-step commands, interruptions, and mid-thought changes, simplifying device management and reducing reliance on rigid phrases. Current performance feels uneven because the assistant runs on underpowered hardware and has surface-level smart-home integration, which often leads to frustration. Generative AI has the potential to make smart homes more accessible, but improved hardware and deeper integration are required to realize that promise.
Read at The Verge
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