Amazon has been working to upgrade its Alexa voice assistant with artificial intelligence to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but the project has faced repeated delays. According to Austin Carr and Matt Day reporting for Bloomberg, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy tested a prototype in summer 2023 and was initially optimistic, but the planned launch was pushed back from October 2024 to sometime in 2025 due to technical challenges. The AI-enhanced Alexa is reportedly struggling with irrelevant responses, unreliable smart home controls, and slow performance compared to ChatGPT.
Amazon’s Alexa division has faced bureaucratic hurdles and intense internal competition for resources, with siloed teams working on different aspects of the assistant’s “brain.” The company has also invested heavily in Alexa hardware without turning a profit. As Amazon rushes to infuse its products with generative AI, some insiders doubt that Alexa will be able to catch up to rivals like ChatGPT, putting the future of the pioneering voice assistant in jeopardy.