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What is the message?
Amazon is introducing an all-new Alexa voice assistant powered by a large language model (LLM) that has advanced conversational abilities and improved contextual understanding.
- This new Alexa aims to be more conversational, intuitive, and capable of handling multiple requests from a single command.
- It also seeks to enhance smart home automation by seamlessly managing connected devices and understanding user requests better.
However, while basic Alexa services will remain free, tsome of these advanced capabilities may come with a cost in the future.
Overall, the message is about the evolution of voice assistants and their potential to offer more sophisticated and convenient experiences for users in the smart home ecosystem.
One page summary
In a groundbreaking development, Amazon has unveiled an all-new Alexa voice assistant, powered by a cutting-edge large language model (LLM), that promises to redefine the smart home experience. This article delves into the key features and implications of this transformation in voice assistant technology.
The central message of the article revolves around Amazon’s efforts to breathe new life into voice assistants, addressing the long-standing issue of limited innovation and incremental improvements in their functionality. With this unveiling, Amazon aims to bridge the gap between basic voice-controlled tools and the visionary technological advancements many had hoped for when voice assistants initially emerged over a decade ago.
One of the headline features of the new Alexa is its enhanced conversational abilities.
- Unlike its predecessors, this Alexa can understand conversational phrases more effectively and respond contextually.
- It can also handle multiple commands within a single utterance, eliminating the need for users to painstakingly issue separate instructions.
The article emphasizes the significance of generative AI in this breakthrough. While previous digital assistants have incorporated elements of AI, they lacked the complex processing capabilities and human-like interactions that generative AI offers. Amazon’s new Alexa seeks to leverage this technology to elevate the smart home experience from a mere remote control to a genuinely intelligent and responsive environment.
Notably, the article highlights Amazon’s cautious approach in rolling out this advanced Alexa. The company has learned from past missteps and is planning a gradual deployment through a preview program, initially limited to the United States. This deliberate strategy underscores Amazon’s commitment to refining and perfecting this technology before widespread adoption.
The new Alexa’s ability to understand natural language commands is showcased through examples like turning up the thermostat with a simple “I’m cold” or adjusting lighting based on room colors. This contextual understanding is made possible through the integration of over 200 smart home APIs, enabling Alexa to proactively manage connected devices.
Additionally, the article introduces the concept of Alexa responding to multiple requests at once, even allowing users to create custom routines on the fly without manual programming. While initially limited to specific device types, Amazon is actively working to expand this feature’s compatibility.
Developers are not left out of the equation, as the article discusses Amazon’s introduction of two new tools, Dynamic Controller and Action Controller, to enhance third-party product integration with Alexa. These tools aim to make the voice-controlled experience more intuitive and user-friendly, with features like prebuilt lighting scenes and the ability to trigger actions with simple phrases.
The article concludes by emphasizing that this is just the beginning of Alexa’s journey, hinting at a range of new smart home experiences on the horizon. The new Alexa LLM-powered voice assistant will initially launch in a preview program for Echo device owners in the United States, with further details on availability to be announced later.
In summary, Amazon’s all-new Alexa represents a significant leap forward in voice assistant technology, promising to deliver a more conversational, context-aware, and intuitive smart home experience.
This innovation has the potential to reshape how we interact with and control our connected devices, marking a pivotal moment in the evolution of voice assistants.
Source: Originally published at https://www.theverge.com on September 20, 2023, by By Jennifer Pattison Tuohy,
Amazon says its all-new Alexa is smarter, but it it funnier?
Amazon’s Alexa is about to come out of its shell, and what emerges could be very interesting. At its fall hardware event Wednesday, the company revealed an all-new Alexa voice assistant powered by its new Alexa large language model. According to Dave Limp, Amazon’s current SVP of devices and services, this new Alexa can understand conversational phrases and respond appropriately, interpret context more effectively, and complete multiple requests from one command.
Voice assistants need a shake-up. A general lack of innovation and barely imperceptible improvements around comprehension have turned them into basic tools instead of the exciting technological advancements we hoped for when they broke onto the scene over a decade ago.
Generative AI has looked like their best shot at survival for a while. But while these digital assistants have always had an element of AI, they’ve lacked the complex processing abilities and more human-like interactions generative AI is capable of. This is a big moment for the smart home, as it could take home automation to the next level, moving it from a remote control experience to a home that’s, well, actually smart.
In an interview with The Verge ahead of the event, Limp explained that the new Alexa LLM “is a true generalizable large language model that’s very optimized for the Alexa use case; it’s not what you find with a Bard or ChatGPT or any of these things.”
However, this all-new Alexa isn’t being unleashed everywhere, on everyone, all at once. The company is rolling it out slowly through a preview program “in the coming months” — and only in the US. Clearly, there have been lessons learned from the missteps of Microsoft and Google, and Amazon is proceeding with caution.
The first big change with the new Alexa will be a more conversational assistant
“When you connect an LLM to the real world, you want to minimize hallucinations — and while we think we have the right systems in place … there is no substitute for putting it out in the real world,” says Limp. If you want to be notified when you can join the preview, tell your Echo device, “Alexa, let’s chat,” and your interest will be registered.
Unsurprisingly, this superpowered Alexa may not always be free. Limp said that while Alexa, as it is today, will remain free, “the idea of a superhuman assistant that can supercharge your smart home, and more, work complex tasks on your behalf, could provide enough utility that we will end up charging something for it down the road.”
The first big change with the new Alexa will be a more conversational assistant, one that can understand more of what you say and require less specific nomenclature to do what you ask. This is one of the most common causes of frustration with voice assistants — having to repeat yourself when you ask it to turn down the thermostat or having it respond, “A few things share the name ‘lights.’ Please choose unique names and run discovery again,” for the 900th time when all you want is to see where you left the remote control.
With the new Alexa, you can say a phrase like, “Alexa, I’m cold,” and the assistant should turn up the temperature on your connected thermostat. Or, as Limp explained, “Say, ‘Alexa, make this room feel like the Seahawk colors,’ and it’s going to know what room I’m in and what the Seahawk’s colors are and make those translations between APIs.”
This superpowered Alexa may not always be free
It’s the APIs that are key, says Limp. “We’ve funneled a large number of smart home APIs, 200-plus, into our LLM.” This data, combined with Alexa’s knowledge of which devices are in your home and what room you’re in based on the Echo speaker you’re talking to, will give Alexa the context needed to more proactively and seamlessly manage your smart home.
This contextual understanding will extend beyond knowing what other connected devices you might want to control to things like inferring when something’s changed in your home. “If you add a new device to your home, you can say, ‘Alexa, turn on the new light,’ and it will know what the new light is. It will disambiguate things, so if you put in a new smart plug or light, it will be easier to control,” explains Limp.
Another new capability is responding to multiple requests at once. This is not just the basic stuff it could already do (to some extent), such as “Alexa turn off the lights and lock the door.” This is more advanced. “You can say, ‘Alexa, turn on the sprinklers and open my garage door, and turn off the outside lights,’ and it’ll figure that all out,” says Limp.
This capability will extend to creating Routines on the fly entirely by voice — without any manual programming in the Alexa app. “I set one up this morning for my kid just by saying, ‘Alexa, every morning at 8AM, turn up the light, play wake-up music for my kid in his bedroom, and start the coffeemaker,’” says Limp. “That can be as complicated and ambiguous as you want, and immediately, it is going to pop up in your app as Routine.”
Initially, the multiple command feature will only work with a subset of device types — including lights, smart plugs, and a few others, says Limp. But the team is working toward adding everything.
Developers will also be able to leverage Alexa’s new cognitive functions. Amazon is introducing two tools that allow the new Alexa to control certain unique features of third-party manufacturer products that aren’t necessarily in Amazon’s smart home ecosystem toolkit. These are called Dynamic Controller and Action Controller.
Dynamic Controller will enable features such as prebuilt scenes for lighting control to be surfaced more naturally. So, if you have GE Cync-colored light bulbs and say, “Alexa, make it look spooky in here,” Alexa will know what to do without you having to program a Routine or import scenes to the Alexa app.
Similarly, Action Controller allows developers to add simple actions that Alexa can act on. For example, if you say, “Alexa, the floor is dirty,” the assistant will know you want the robot vacuum to get to work.
Amazon says it’s already working with GE Cync, Philips, GE Appliances, iRobot, Roborock, and Xiaomi on these features and is opening the program up to more developers. Amazon hasn’t provided details on how or when developers will gain access to these tools; we’ve reached out for clarification.
Limp says this is just the start of Alexa’s new journey. “We’ve built a new generative AI LLM that’s going to — over time — power a bunch of areas of Alexa, including a bunch of new smart home experiences,” he says. “The first bucket is to try and simplify these everyday tasks.” Where it will go next will be an interesting journey to watch.
The new Alexa LLM-powered voice assistant will launch first in preview in the US and be available to anyone with an Echo device. Amazon hasn’t announced a date for the preview, and the new Alexa LLM-powered smart home features will be part of an additional invitation-only preview. You can request an invitation once you are part of the preview. Amazon says those will be available at a later date.
Originally published at https://www.theverge.com on September 20, 2023.
