Alexa Just Got an AI Makeover

Alexa was dueAmazon recently held its annual media event, unveiling a range of new hardware, software, and services. The highlight of the event was the upgraded version of Alexa, the voice assistant driving Amazon’s smart home initiatives. Researchers at Amazon have enhanced Alexa’s technology to make it more competitive in the era of ChatGPT. The upgraded Alexa can now engage in more natural conversations, minimize awkward interactions, and even deliver responses with greater emotional depth.

This week on Gadget Lab, we have WIRED senior writer Will Knight with us to discuss the increasing conversational abilities of Alexa. Will had a conversation with Amazon executives regarding their advancements in machine intelligence, their training models, and how the company is capitalizing on the growing interest in generative artificial intelligence.

Show Notes

Please read the report by Will regarding the latest upgrade of Alexa. Also, check out our summary of all the announcements made by Amazon during Wednesday’s media event.

Recommendations

Will recommends Auto-GPT, a tool that turns ChatGPT an autonomous agent that manages all the boring parts of your life. Mike recommends the book No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating by Alicia Kennedy. Lauren recommends the episode of WIRED’s Have a Nice Future Podcast where journalist Paul Tough talks about college in the US and the future of higher education.

Will Knight can be found on Twitter @willknight. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

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