How Amazon blew Alexa's shot to dominate AI, according to more than a dozen employees who worked on it
What challenges have reportedly delayed the rollout of the new generative AI-powered Alexa according to former Amazon employees?
According to former Amazon employees, the rollout of the new generative AI-powered Alexa has been delayed due to several challenges:
- Structural dysfunction and technological challenges within the organization.
- Insufficient training data and inadequate access to training hardware.
- Deprioritization of the new Alexa in favor of building generative AI for Amazon's cloud computing unit, AWS.
- Difficulty in integrating the new large language model (LLM) with the existing Alexa features and functionalities6.
- Amazon's decentralized organizational structure, causing friction and delays in decision-making.
- Lack of a clear vision and strategy for the new Alexa.
- Bureaucratic issues and infrastructure problems, such as a shortage of the latest Nvidia GPUs.
These challenges have reportedly left Amazon lagging behind its Big Tech rivals Google, Microsoft, and Meta in the race to launch AI chatbots and agents5.
How did Amazon's new Alexa LLM differ in response capabilities compared to the traditional Alexa, according to David Limp's demonstration?
According to David Limp's demonstration, the new Alexa LLM (Large Language Model) had more natural and conversational responses compared to the traditional Alexa. In the demo, the new Alexa was able to respond in a joyful voice and could write a message to friends to remind them to watch a football game, showing more advanced capabilities than the traditional robotic responses of the existing Alexa.
What are the implications of the reported structural dysfunction and technological challenges within Amazon's Alexa division on its competitiveness in the AI market?
In September 2023, Amazon showcased a new generative AI-powered version of its Alexa voice assistant, which demonstrated a more natural and conversational voice. However, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees, the launch was just a demo and the new Alexa was not ready for a prime time rollout, and still isn't. The former employees paint a picture of a company desperately behind its Big Tech rivals Google, Microsoft, and Meta in the race to launch AI chatbots and agents, and floundering in its efforts to catch up. The new Alexa LLM (large language model), which sits at the heart of the new Alexa, is, according to former employees, far from state-of-the-art. Research scientists who worked on the LLM said Amazon does not have enough data or access to the specialized computer chips needed to run LLMs to compete with rival efforts at companies like OpenAI. Amazon has also, former employees say, repeatedly deprioritized the new Alexa in favor of building generative AI for Amazon's cloud computing unit, AWS.