Google Assistant has been one of the primary virtual helpers saturating the landscape. Alongside it has long been Amazon Alexa, and now, the company is beating Google to the punch in revamping its assistant to be more conversational and natural with generative AI.
In 2018, Google announced a new feature for the Google Assistant that would bring more natural conversation to the virtual helper. “Continued Conversation” was essentially an upgrade to Assistant that allowed it to continue listening after answering a prompt. This approach allows it to have a conversation with the user and help them beyond a simple answer or task.
That was five years ago, and since then, it’s hard to imagine another major change in how the Assistant converses or interacts with us, as users and humans.
Amazon, on the other hand, took today’s annual hardware event to announce a breakthrough revitalization of Alexa using generative AI. In its briefing, the company detailed a newly designed approach to interacting with users. Alexa, going forward, will be able to use visual processing – thanks to the Echo Show 8’s new front-facing camera – and acoustic models to determine if you’re speaking to the device or not.
“Hey, Alexa” and other wake words are no longer needed, and true continued conversation takes over. The event showcased a live demo of the new Alexa, with natural conversation and a lack of keywords throughout the in-progress interaction.
The AI makeover doesn’t stop there, either. Alexa will be able to understand more complex commands and make use of context clues in controlling smart home products. For instance, Dave Limp – Amazon SVP of devices and services – notes that asking Alexa something like “Turn off the lights and open the garage door, and turn on the sprinklers” will result in the assistant breaking down each individual appliance or product and completing each individual task you’ve asked.
We’ve all tried throwing commands like that out there at Google Assistant and other, older, virtual helpers. The experience is inconsistent. It doesn’t result in even one action, rather, just a frustrated repeated phrase that’s akin to pulling teeth one by one.
Amazon’s new Alexa generative AI update will even let you make requests that would normally require pre-programmed knowledge. Something like “Set the lights to Seahawks colors” will genuinely result in a lighting theme consisting of greens and blues. Genuinely impressive.
A lot of the reason people are beginning to shy away from using products like Google Assistant is because of it’s limitations. It was a similar case with Amazon Alexa. Now, as these new AI models broaden the capabilities of virtual assistants beyond simple ask-and-answer, we’re likely to see better experiences with digital assistants.
The new generative AI experience with Alexa will begin to roll out slowly to members of Amazon’s preview program “in the coming months.” This preview and release is currently also restricted to use in the US.
Is a revamp coming for Google Assistant?
Hopefully, this AI revamp to Alexa adds a little fire under Google to bring its vast language models to the Assistant – a product that’s considered one of the cornerstones of its hardware lineup. We know Google is currently working on a “supercharged” version of the Assistant based on large language models, much like Amazon’s new Alexa.
The information we have on hand notes that the company has a team currently working on this venture, and the upgrade will start with Assistant on Android. Following that, it’s not difficult to imagine Google bringing an LLM version of Assistant to devices like the Nest Hub and Pixel Tablet.
Amazon unveils Echo Show 8 and Hub
On the hardware side, Amazon has developed a new set of Echo devices that are meant to bring that new generation of Alexa into play.
The 2023 Echo Show 8 is a newly designed smart speaker that houses a center camera and a massive audio array on the back. The Echo Show 8 has Matter support built-in and can connect all of your smart home devices as most other smart displays can. The included speakers are newly designed to bring a wider soundstage to the forefront, coupled with room adaptation technology to optimize sound for your room, specifically.
The Echo Hub, on the other hand, is an 8-inch smart display that focuses on controlling all of your smart home devices. It can be mounted on your wall or sit on a table, and it’s simply a touchscreen that displays all of your smart home products in a way that eases control over them. It, of course, has Alexa built-in – with eventual Amazon Alexa AI – and comes with Matter support for a broader array of compatible devices.
The Echo Show 8 will come in at $149.99 and is available for pre-order today. The Echo hub starts at $179.99 and will be available later this year.
New Fire TV Soundbar and Fire Stick 4K
Amazon is also extending its Fire TV lineup with a new soundbar and Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Soundbar is a simplicity-focused soundbar that’s made as a no-nonsense Fire TV companion, because why wouldn’t it be? Users simply need to plug it up and enjoy the experience. The new Fire TV Soundbar comes in at $119 and is available now.
On the visual side, Amazon is announcing the Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick Max 4K Max. The first comes with Wi-Fi 6 capability and is 30% more powerful than the previous version. The Max version has Wi-Fi 6e capability and supports Dolby Vision, HDR, and HDR10+.
The Fire Stick 4K will be $49.99, while the Max edition comes in at $59.99. At $10 more, going with the enhanced Max version seems like the right play.
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