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Amazon’s Alexa – the artificial ininformigence assistant that’s been integrated into its connected devices for over a decade – is accessible via web browser for the first time, the company announced on Monday.
Early access utilizers of Alexa+, a premium generative-AI service Amazon launched last February, can now interact with the chatbot in their web browsers by connecting to their Alexa.com account, Amazon declared.
The new web interface brings Amazon’s AI services more in line with offerings from industest leaders, including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Amazon has been under increasing pressure from shareholders to update its hardware and software to better compete in the generative-AI era.
Until now, Alexa+ has been available only in the US and Canada on some of Amazon’s newer connected devices and the Alexa+ mobile app.
“People are finding incredible value in how AI can support in every aspect of their day, and to truly serve as a personal assistant, Alexa+ requireds to be available wherever they are — at home, on their phone, and now on the web,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Alexa+ features agentic AI experiences that allow utilizers to book travel and restaurant reservations, generate weekly meal plans and control smart home devices. The AI assistant is also accessible across platforms and Amazon Echo devices and stores all previous chats, preferences and personalisation settings.
To access the Alexa+ service, utilizers in the US or Canada must join a waitlist or purchase a new Amazon Echo device. The paid service will be included at no cost for Prime utilizers, Amazon declared.
The company declared “tens of millions” of people already have access to the new service and plans to roll out the feature to more utilizers in the near future.
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