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The logo of Amazon’s Alexa+ is displayed on a screen during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, U.S., February 26, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Amazon is significantly investing in the artificial intelligence sector, particularly through its partnership with the startup Anthropic. This collaboration is set to enhance the functionalities of Alexa, as the company’s AI models are integrated into the latest devices.
Sources familiar with the development state that Anthropic’s Claude, a sophisticated large language model, is predominantly managing the inquiries directed at the new version of Alexa. These individuals requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the details.
This week, Amazon introduced a major upgrade to its decade-old Alexa devices, marking a pivotal shift in the user experience. For the first time, access to an enhanced version of Alexa, called “Alexa+,” will incur a fee of $19.99 per month, though it will be complimentary for Amazon Prime members. The service is expected to debut in an early access format next month.
During the recent presentation, Alexa+ demonstrated its ability to perform complex tasks such as making dinner reservations, ordering groceries, and booking rides via Uber—capabilities that were not feasible in previous iterations. While Alexa was once at the forefront of natural language processing and machine learning, it has faced increased competition from generative AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which have rapidly evolved to produce not only text but also audio and visual content.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy emphasized that this revamp constitutes a thorough “rearchitecting” of Alexa’s underlying systems.
In addition to the approximately $8 billion Amazon has invested in Anthropic, the company has also been developing its own AI technologies, recently launching the Nova series of models. Anthropic’s Claude model forms part of Amazon Web Services’ Bedrock offering, which allows users to access multiple AI solutions, including Amazon’s Nova and Titan models as well as those from Mistral and others.
Amazon has indicated that it utilizes Bedrock as the foundation for powering Alexa, yet it is Claude that is undertaking the more demanding tasks showcased during the product launch. According to sources, Claude is particularly adept at handling queries that demand higher levels of cognitive engagement.
While Amazon continues to deploy its proprietary AI models, these are being used for less complex tasks, as per the insights from the sources.
Anthropic has chosen not to comment publicly on the matter, and Amazon has not yet responded to requests for comment.
As part of Amazon’s initial investment in Anthropic, the tech giant enjoyed complimentary access to certain capacities of Anthropic’s models for 18 months, a deal that has since concluded, prompting negotiations to establish new terms between the two companies, according to a source.
The influence of Anthropic’s model extends beyond just Alexa, as it is also enhancing Amazon’s product search and advertising capabilities, according to the insider.
Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services, who leads the redesign of Alexa, praised Anthropic as a valuable collaborator during the event. Having joined Amazon in 2023 after a long tenure at Microsoft, Panay commended the foundational model developed by Anthropic as “incredible.”
“We select the model that best fits the task at hand,” Panay elaborated in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. “Using Amazon Bedrock, Alexa is able to choose the appropriate model to accomplish the job.”
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