Amazon Unveils Generative AI Features for Alexa and New Smart Home Devices

Amazon held its big Devices and Services event today where the company detailed new generative AI features coming to Alexa and various new smart home devices. The event was the last to feature Dave Limp, the senior vice president of Amazon Devices and Services who announced back in August that he will retire from Amazon. Limp will reportedly be replaced by Panos Panay, who has just announced his departure from Microsoft.

With ChatGPT kicking off a new generative AI revolution last year, Amazon’s voice-based assistant needed to catch up, and it will. Amazon is upgrading the digital assistant with a new large language model that will allow users to have more human-like conversations with Alexa. The upgraded assistant will help to make Amazon’s new smart home devices more useful, and the company did announce a lot of new hardware today.

Alexa gets generative AI features

Coming soon in preview in the US, the upgraded Alexa with generative AI will be able to understand complex requests and continue a conversation while keeping the context from previous interactions. On a smart screen like the Echo Show 8, users will be able to see the full conversation and rate replies from Alexa.

On stage, Dave Limp showed how to use Alexa to ask about sports scores, and then ask about detailed performance data for a specific player. To finish, Limp asked Alexa to create an invitation message for his friends to watch the team’s next game, and Alexa proceeded to send the message to his phone.

With its new generative AI capabilities, Alexa will also be able to invent a story or poem on the fly, create a custom recipe based on the ingredients you want to use, and much more. On Fire TV devices, users will also be able to ask Alexa to create unique AI art using simple voice instructions.

Alexa is also getting an Eye Gaze mode that will allow users with speech or mobility disabilities to interact with the assistant with their eyes. This will be available later this year on Fire Max 11 Tablets in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Japan. Alexa is also getting a free Call Translation feature later this year and a paid Emergency Assist feature ($5.99 per month or $59 per year)

Lastly, the Alexa app is getting a new Map View to help users manage their smart home devices more easily. Instead of scrolling a long list of devices to find the right one, users will be able to create a digital map of their home’s floor plan and add connected devices to it. This new Map View will launch in the US later this year.

New Echo Show 8

Amazon unveiled a new version of its smart screen with a newly centered camera, a custom-built audio processor, and better speakers. The key new feature is adaptive content, which will make the content on the home screen adapt based on your proximity.

“When you’re further away, the screen will show essentials like a simplified news headline or a large clock—information you can read from across the room. But as you approach the device, the screen will transition to more detailed and touch-friendly UI, along with personalized content,” Amazon explained

The new Echo Show 8 is available for pre-order today at $149.99, and it will start shipping next month. Amazon will also offer the $159.99 Echo Show 8 Photos Edition, which comes with a new PhotoPlus service that will put your personal photos at the forefront. PhotosPlus is free for the first six months, then it will cost $1.99/month.

New Echo Hub wall-mounted smart screen

The Echo Hub is a new wall-mountable smart screen with an 8-inch display to manage smart home devices. and view multiple live camera feeds at the same time. Amazon highlighted that it supports over 140,000 smart home devices, with built-in support for the Matter and Thread standards. It can also connect locally to select smart home devices for faster connectivity.

The Echo Hub seems a bit redundant next to Amazon’s Echo Show devices, and it’s also more expensive. It will be available later this year for $179.99.

New Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and Fire TV Soundbar

Amazon is refreshing its top-tier Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick 4K Max. The company also announced today that it has now sold over 200 million Fire TV devices worldwide, and the Fire TV ecosystem is showing some healthy growth.

The new $49.99 Fire TV Stick 4K is nearly 30% more powerful than the previous generation, and it also adds support for Wi-Fi 6 for faster connectivity. The new $59.99 Fire TV Stick 4K Max, however, has an even more powerful 2.0 Ghz CPU, twice the storage, and Wi-Fi 6E support. It also supports the new Fire TV ambient Experience that can turn your TV into a smart display. Both models are available for pre-order today.

Amazon also announced a new 24-inch Fire TV soundbar that supports DTS Virtual:X and Dolby Audio. It’s compatible with all Fire TV streaming media players and TVs, and it’s also Bluetooth-enabled. You can pre-order it today for $119.99.

The company also detailed a new search experience with Alexa on Fire TV devices. The digital assistant will be able to help find content to watch using their viewing history and data from IMDb. For example, it will be possible to ask Alexa to “find movies that were close to getting an Oscar.”

Lastly, a “Continue Watching” row that aggregates various streaming providers will launch in the US later this year. This is something that tvOS and Google TV already support, and this should be a really useful update. Speaking of streaming services,  you can get six months of MGM+ with every new Fire TV streaming media player or smart TV purchase starting today

New Echo Frames

The Alexa-powered glasses are being refreshed with seven new frame styles that support wireless charging. Amazon promises up to 14 hours of “moderate usage” on a full battery charge, and up to six hours of continuous media playback or talk time.

The new Echo frames will soon be available for pre-order, with prices starting at $269.99. Amazon also teamed up with Carrera to create some unique designs.

eero Max 7

The new eero Max 7 is the company’s new router that supports the brand new Wi-Fi 7 standard, which provides up to 4.3 Gbps wireless speeds. The eero Max 7 also supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and the mesh-capable router can connect to over 200 devices with up to 7,500 square feet of coverage. The eero Max 7 will launch in the holidays at $599.99, and it will be backward-compatible with previous generation eero devices.

Amazon announced other new home security devices today including the Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro, and the Blink Sync Module Pro which will offer extended range for your Blink devices. Overall, the event was really packed with announcements, and it will interesting to see if Microsoft manages the raise the stakes tomorrow with its special event, which is expected to no longer feature Panos Panay.