Amazon Postpones AI Alexa Launch to 2025

Amazon's new AI-powered Alexa has faced significant developmental delays, with its launch now postponed to 2025. Despite improvements in conversational skills, the new Alexa struggles with basic tasks such as controlling smart lights, which the older version handled easily. Reports suggest that large language models (LLMs) pose integration challenges, causing unnecessary information and errors in performance. Initially announced in September 2023 with support from AI startup Anthropic, the new Alexa was expected to feature ChatGPT-style intelligence but failed to meet its 2024 deadline. CEO Andy Jassy indicates that the next-generation Alexa will focus on taking actions, not just providing answers, but the beta phase has been discontinued due to unimpressive performance. The delay reflects broader technological and structural challenges for Amazon, which aims to eventually enhance Alexa's capabilities with new AI models.