Wednesday evening Amazon organized its Amazon’s Devices & Services event, with numerous hardware announcements, but especially AI on the program.
Of course, this is not Amazon’s first attempt at AI. Its personal assistant Alexa has been one of the most advanced and widespread examples of AI for 10 years.
However, with the rise of generative AI models – much more advanced – the AI capabilities of Amazon’s voice assistant have become somewhat obsolete. And Amazon wants to change that.
So the crown jewel of AI announcements is a more conversational and capable Alexa, powered by a new, more powerful LLM. But AI has also been announced in new hardware, including the new Fire TV, Echo 8, and more.
ZDNET has rounded up all the biggest and most useful AI announcements here.
1. What Alexa can do with her new LLM
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Alexa was therefore in dire need of an update. And it will now benefit from a transformation thanks to generative AI. The LLM under the hood notably allows for advanced conversation capabilities.
For example, Amazon claims that Alexa’s new “Let’s chat” feature can do everything the most popular generative AI chatbots can do, but in a hands-free setting. With this feature, users can ask Alexa to perform more creative tasks, such as telling a story, giving recipes, creating a date idea, or even providing the latest match results.
The assistant’s new conversational capabilities even allow users to interrupt it mid-conversation and clarify its message. These new features will be available on all Echo devices as part of a preview, even on the original Echo device shipped in… 2014.
These new features are also progress in home automation. Using the user’s voice, Alexa can create routines instead of having to set up a task manually on the app.
Alexa’s new conversational capabilities make it possible to infer what users mean about their home. This allows more latitude in the vocabulary used by the user.
2. Explore with Alexa
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The “Explore with Alexa” feature is a new addition to the Amazon Kids+ service that will allow children to participate in “kid-friendly conversations with Alexa,” according to Amazon.
With this feature, Alexa can provide children with answers to their questions. If your child wants to move away from the topic, the feature has guardrails that allow Alexa to redirect the conversation to the appropriate content.
3. Eye Gaze with Alexa
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Available later this year on the Fire 11 Max tablet, the Eye Gaze on Alexa feature will allow customers with mobility or speech disabilities to use their gaze to interact with the tablet on predefined actions, and this without manual or voice intervention.
Tasks it can perform include playing music and shows, controlling the smart home, and even making phone calls, according to Amazon.
4. Search on Fire TV
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With new Fire TV Search, users can ask Alexa for Fire TV content through conversational queries, just like talking to a friend, instead of scrolling for hours to find something to look.
For example, users can request to see content from an actor whose name they forgot or a movie of a specific genre, cost or theme, as well as other queries. This feature will be available through an update later this year.
5. The art of AI on your TV
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AI image generators are all the rage. And Amazon is now integrating this technology into its televisions. Fire TV 4K Max users will be able to describe the art they want to see on their TV’s home screen, and within seconds the image will be generated and broadcast.
As with any other AI image generator, the possibilities are endless, with the live demo even including a cyberpunk version of New York’s Guggenheim.
6. Call translation
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Call Translation is a new feature that will allow Alexa audio and video calls to be captioned in real-time with the appropriate translation, allowing more people to participate in a conversation without a language barrier.
As someone from a Spanish-speaking household who has to watch my friends say “Si” to everything my grandmother says on the phone, I can’t wait to see how this feature works.
Captioning will also allow deaf or hard of hearing customers to improve their phone calls.
7. Presence detection on Echo 8
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Depending on the user’s proximity to the Echo Show 8 smart speaker, the device automatically changes the way you see your home screen. The ability to detect the presence of a person can be considered another example of AI.
When users are away from the device, they only have access to the essentials, like a large clock. However, when they get closer to the Echo Show 8, the user interface becomes more detailed.
Source: “ZDNet.com”