The new version of Amazon's Alexa could be released more than a month after its announcement.
Alexa, powered by artificial intelligence, is experiencing accuracy issues.
Amazon has decided to postpone the launch of the AI-driven update for its virtual assistant Alexa, initially scheduled for February 26. This decision is partly due to issues related to the delivery of inaccurate responses during testing. An anonymous employee from the company reported that the new version of Alexa will not be available until March 31 or even later.
The update, which might be linked to a subscription model, would include features such as the ability to adopt a personality, remember conversations, place food orders, or request a taxi. This launch was intended to be a free trial, according to internal documents that have been cited.
News of this delay comes after months of speculation regarding the difficulties Amazon faces in implementing a significant improvement to Alexa's AI generator, a project the company announced for 2023 but has yet to complete. This launch was initially scheduled for late 2024 but has been postponed due to reports from beta testers indicating slow and unhelpful responses. So far, Amazon has not responded to requests for comments on the situation.
Meanwhile, Apple is also facing challenges with the anticipated update of its Siri assistant, which was expected for iOS 18.4 but could be limited or delayed until iOS 18.5, scheduled for release starting in May. In the meantime, Google's digital assistant, powered by Gemini, continues to maintain a significant lead in the race to enhance smartphone assistants with generative AI.
