Amazon’s Enhanced AI Alexa Delayed to 2025

Amazon’s revamped Alexa, touted to handle complex queries, won’t be released until next year. Despite early 2024 goals, the project faces setbacks attributed to issues with language models and internal challenges.

Well, it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer for Amazon’s big Alexa update—now slated for 2025 instead of late 2024. Thanks, development gremlins! Bloomberg reports that the team’s been wrestling with large language models (LLMs), trying to teach Alexa new tricks. But here’s the kicker: while it’s getting better at handling complex questions, it’s somehow tripping over the basics, like setting a timer or dimming your smart lights. (Talk about a plot twist.)

Originally, October was the magic month, but Amazon hit pause, giving the spotlight to their shiny new Kindle lineup instead. Then, in August, they dropped a bombshell: Alexa’s getting a brain transplant from Anthropic’s Claude AI. Catch? It’ll cost you a subscription. After ChatGPT stole the show in 2023, Amazon’s big boss Andy Jassy took Alexa for a spin and thought, ‘Eh, it’s not perfect, but it’ll do for a beta early next year.’ But with technical snags and a bit of internal chaos, it seems like smooth sailing is still a ways off.