Six months ago, Daniel Rausch, Amazon‘s Vice President, Alexa & Echo, told me the company was ready for millions of customers to suddenly start tapping into Alexa’s new large-language-model-infused intelligence – and this was before the company really had any hardware that was truly purpose-built to support Alexa+.
That changed this week as Amazon unleashed a slew of new Echo smart speakers, intelligent Show screens, clever Fire TVs, and pen-friendly (and even color-capable) Kindles. When I sat down with Rausch again to take measure of the company’s accomplishments, he was ready to celebrate the win.
“I was remembering that you and I were sitting in this exact same room about six months ago when we unveiled Alexa+, and it’s been awesome,” he noted. “I feel like this is definitely the culmination of a ton of hard work in the team, but also just a lot of inspiration and great feedback from customers.”
It’s not just that Alexa+ will arrive pre-baked with these products, and ready to run as soon as users turn on their new Echo Show, Echo Studio, or other device (assuming they’re Prime Members); these are the first products designed to support the new and smarter digital assistant.
Built for the task
“The vision for these products is really that they are purpose-built for Alexa+,” Rausch told me.
That purpose goes, in part, to the new chips, the AZ3 and AZ3 Pro embedded in the new Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio, respectively (the new Shows have the AZ3 Pro, too).
“In addition to incredible performance, those chips are really built for AI. They can run incredible amounts of AI right on the edge,” explained Rausch.
It’s not all about the chips though. Amazon’s decision, for example, to separate the Echo Show speakers from the display (while keeping it a single device) is not just about delivering better audio quality (though that’s a big part of it); it’s to deliver a modern aesthetic that’s more in line with the new Alexa+ ethos.
Plus, there’s the Echo Show’s new 13MP camera. “Alexa, with her new camera, can see me at very oblique angles,” said Rausch.
Alexa’s senses
That ability for us to hear and see Alexa’s intentions, and for Alexa to see and hear us, points to another interesting feature of Alexa and this new hardware: Omnisense. As Rausch explained it to me, “Omnisense is that new sensor fusion technology platform that really brings together […] a vast array of different signals.”
Omnisense is embedded in the new Echo and Echo Show devices and connects directly to what Rausch called Alexa’s “senses”, some of which we, as humans, do not share.
“For example, [Alexa] can detect presence, if you like, with perturbations in the Wi-Fi spectrum in the background, and so you can use that […] Wi-Fi radar capability or ultrasonic presence detection to say something like, ‘Anyone comes into the kitchen, turn on the lights.'”
Speaker up
On stage earlier that day, Rausch had the enviable task of walking everyone through Amazon’s refashioned Echo Smart Speaker line. He was obviously still basking in that glow as he talked with evident pride to me about the audio engineering leaps his team had made to make the Echo Dot Max’s relatively impressive audio quality possible.
“What’s unique about the Dot Max is that the entire assembly is the speaker,” he explained. “Like, when I say that not a single cubic millimeter has been lost, the entire envelope of the enclosure is the speaker. So every bit of air inside that volume acts as back volume for the bass.”
Exploring what’s next
For all the hardware and Alexa+ excitement Rausch and Device Services lead Pano Panay delivered, there were some significant gaps. There was, for instance, no mention of the Echo Spot, another ball-shaped smart speaker featuring a colorful screen. In recent years, though, Amazon has shifted its focus on that line. “We really wanted to build a purpose-built alarm clock for the bedside table and that is what Spot is, and we’ve sort of focused wholly and fully on that.”
I was more concerned, though, about the complete lack of wearables updates. Where were the new Echo Frames, Echo Buds, or even some new sport-friendly, Alexa+-equipped health band?
Rausch told me Amazon customers love using Alexa+ on their Echo Frames and Echo Buds. “It makes the whole experience better […] it lets customers take Alexa+ outside the home with them.”
That makes sense, but I still wondered about the roadmap. How does Amazon compete in the AI space when companies like Meta are preparing to deliver eyewear featuring generative AI and an integrated display?
“While we don’t have any new hardware or releases as part of this particular event, I can tell you that the team is eager and eagerly at work; let me just say it that way. Stay tuned,” Rausch told me with a smile.
In the near term, though, Amazon may be preparing to ingest a whole lot more telemetry from customers snapping up these new Alexa+-ready gadgets, and it’s likely that these devices will learn more about what customers do and don’t like about the new and smarter platform.
The real superpower
When I asked Rausch to reflect on what they had learned so far and if anything surprised him, he pointed, somewhat unexpectedly, to Alexa+’s new voice.
“It’s engaging and more conversational,” he said, but some customers prefer the original voice. Amazon’s answer is to have Alexa speak in three different voices during initial setup. This teaches the customer that it’s easy for them to switch.
This accomplishes a couple of things, letting the “minority of customers that want to go back” know they can just do it, “but it teaches customers something super important, which is that you can just ask Alexa what she can do, and that is powerful because you don’t have to go to any other source. This is an AI that understands completely what it’s capable of.” Rausch added that knowing that is like learning how to read, which, when you do, you know you can learn anything.
“If you learn to ask Alexa what she can do, you can unlock all of her superpowers.”
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
