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A new version of Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa is poised to run on Anthropic chatbot Claude according to sources at the company.
Back in June, reports indicated Amazon was developing a “killer” chatbot called Metis to compete with ChatGPT, as many believed the company was falling behind in the AI race.
On Friday (Aug, 30) five anonymous sources told Reuters that Amazon’s in-house AI “struggled” to process requests. It is turning to Anthropic’s Claude instead as the software was “sometimes taking six or seven seconds to acknowledge a prompt and reply”.
Claude is the startup’s own AI chatbot, comparable, and a direct competitor, to OpenAI’s wildly popular ChatGPT.
This collaboration hasn’t come out of nowhere. Amazon invested $4 billion in Anthropic earlier this year, and the two’s partnership is currently being investigated over anti-competitive behavior by a UK watchdog. However, it is a change from Amazon’s usual preference for in-house technology to maintain control over user experience and data.
What could the Anthropic chatbot bring to Alexa?
Alexa launched almost a decade ago along with the Echo smart speaker in November 2014. It is commonly used to set timers and reminders, answer simple questions and play music.
With boosted AI, Alexa would be able to perform more complicated requests. This could include the assistant having complete conversations with users and the ability to build on previous questions. Other typical chatbot uses may include drafting emails and generating images.
The new generative AI Alexa (reportedly being marketed as “Remarkable”) is expected to cost $5 to $10 per month. It is thought to be released in October ahead of the holiday season. The non-AI, or “Classic” assistant, will remain free.
Charging this monthly fee is Amazon’s attempt to make Alexa more profitable. It has been pushing users to purchase items via Alexa but this has not been successful.
This comes as Apple is considering investing in Anthropic’s rival, OpenAI. It is not yet clear the size of the funds but Apple has already partnered with the company for its new Apple Intelligence feature.
ReadWrite approached Anthropic for comment.
Feature image credit: Amazon
