Amazon announces Alexa event on February 26 — what we expect to see

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Alexa is set to get some major upgrades

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Amazon plans to announce several improvements for Alexa to help it compete against the competition from Google and Apple.

According to a report from Reuters, Amazon sent out press invites on Wednesday for the event in New York. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that the event will be Alexa-focused but wouldn't offer more details on what this might mean.

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However, we might be able to get an indication of what changes are coming, thanks to the changes to ChatGPT and Gemini. For instance, Alexa could offer more natural feeling conversations, like we saw in Gemini Live. Amazon could also help Alexa differentiate between multiple speakers. There are also rumors that Alexa will be able to act as an "agent" for you and take actions without your direct involvement.

We heard rumors back in 2024 that Amazon is planning to use Anthropic's AI to supercharge Alexa. This will, in theory, improve Alexa's ability to remember user preferences, which means better recommendations for customers when using features like Amazon Music.

Now, there is some bad news as it seems that Amazon reportedly plans to offer this improved AI under a $5 to $10 monthly fee. However, the current iteration of Amazon Alexa, which will be called "Classic Alexa," will still be available to users for free.

For now, we can only wait and see what is announced during the event, but this could be a big shakeup to the AI Assistant market.

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Josh Render
Josh Render
Staff Writer

Josh is a staff writer for Tom's Guide and is based in the UK. He has worked for several publications but now works primarily on mobile phones. Outside of phones, he has a passion for video games, novels, and Warhammer.