Amazon Ready To Launch New Generation Alexa AI On February 26, 2025

JAKARTA Amazon announced that it will hold an artificial intelligence (AI)-themed event on February 26, 2025, where the company is expected to introduce the latest generation of a generative AI-based Alexa.

Since its introduction in 2014, Alexa has been one of the world's most popular voice assistants. However, in recent years, this technology has begun to lag behind the rapid progress of generative AIs such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Therefore, this major change will be the biggest update since Alexa was first released.

In this update, Alexa is not only able to answer simple commands, but also understands the context of more complex conversations and handles multi-layered demand. This feature will make interactions with Alexa feel more natural and approach other more modern generating AI capabilities.

Amazon used the AI model from Anthropic's Claude to improve Alexa's performance, instead of relying solely on their internal technology. This decision was taken after Amazon encountered problems with its AI early version which was less responsive in providing real-time answers.

In fact, Alexa's planned update was scheduled for release last year, but Amazon chose to postpone its launch to ensure its technology is ready for optimal use.

Alexa's success is critical to Amazon, given that more than 100 million active users and more than 500 million Alexa-capable devices have been sold worldwide.

With the launch of this latest generation of AI, Amazon hopes to convert some of Alexa users into paid subscribers. However, in the early stages, this new version of Alexa will only be tested by a small number of users and will not be charged. Amazon plans to develop a subscription-based business model in the future.

Competition with Apple Siri

The launch of the new generation of Alexa AI will come ahead of the major update that Apple has also made to Siri. Apple is reportedly developing Apple Intelligence, an AI technology that will strengthen Siri with screen awareness, personal context, and deeper app integration.

Apple plans to release a new Siri next year, with large management model (LLM)-based technology that allows a smarter ability to understand and respond to user orders. Thus, Siri will be more able to compete with advanced AI chatbots such as ChatGPT.

With AI technology growing, Amazon and Apple are now competing to present the best sound assistant on the market. The latest generation Alexa, which will be introduced on February 26, 2025, is predicted to be one of Amazon's biggest innovations in the AI sector, and will determine the future of their smart device ecosystem.