Report: Amazon seeks to license news content for revamped Amazon Alexa voice assistant

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Amazon wants to boost the generative artificial intelligence capabilities of its Alexa voice assistant. And they want the help of news publishers. Amazon is reportedly seeking licensing agreements with news publishers to allow it to respond to real-time queries about the news.

Alexa currently offers answers from sources like Reuters, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Associated Press, and more. However, it isn't set up to provide real-time answers for breaking news. So, Amazon wants to change this with the updated version of Alexa, which is expected to come out next year.

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Amazon's Alexa: From AI ambitions to practical partnerships?

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Amazon's Alexa is undergoing a strategic shift, pivoting from ambitious artificial-powered aspirations to a more pragmatic approach. Instead of relying on complex AI models, the company is reportedly focusing on partnerships with established companies like Uber, OpenTable, GrubHub, Ticketmaster, and Instacart. This strategic move aims to enhance Alexa's capabilities in specific tasks, such as ordering food, booking rides, and making reservations.

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BMW is going to build an Alexa-based custom voice assistant

BMW cars already have support for Amazon's Alexa. But the carmaker wants to take things a step further by building its own custom voice assistant based on Amazon's Alexa core technology. This upcoming voice assistant will be built using Amazon's Alexa Custom Assistant. It's a service that allows automakers and device manufacturers to create their own digital assistants using Amazon's tech.

This service will allow BMW to create its customized wake words, voices, and capabilities with Alexa as the base. BMW hopes it can "enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle." This is critical for ensuring the voice assistant reduces distractions for drivers since it can help with things like finding directions, changing music, or even adjusting the heating or cooling in the cars. BMW aims to roll out its custom-built voice assistant within the next couple of years.

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An Amazon Alexa feature can mimic the voice of your dead relatives

Here's one Amazon Alexa feature I don't think I'll ever want to try. Amazon is experimenting with its AI assistant to let it mimic the voices of users' dead relatives. The company demoed it recently during its MARS conference, where they showed a video of a child asking Alexa to read a bedtime story in the voice of his dead grandmother.

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