- Amazon.com is working on an artificial intelligence-driven overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant and plans to charge a monthly subscription fee to offset technology costs, CNBC reported on Wednesday.

The online retail giant will launch a more conversational version of the voice assistant later this year, positioning it to better compete with AI-powered chatbots from Microsoft and Alphabet's Google, the report said, citing people with knowledge of Amazon's plans.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

A subscription to Alexa will not be included in the company's $139 Prime offering and Amazon is yet to nail down the price of the new services, the report said. It added that the company will use its own Titan large language model for the upgrade.

Amazon introduced Alexa in 2014 but has not found a consistent means to make it profitable, instead driving shoppers to the company's website for more purchases.

It updated its Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence last September to attract users. The company cut "several hundred" jobs in its Alexa voice assistant unit in November.

Apple is also reportedly looking to revamp its Siri virtual assistant with generative artificial intelligence features.

The CNBC report comes more than a week after OpenAI unveiled a new AI model called GPT-4o, which enables users to speak to ChatGPT and obtain real-time responses without lag. It can also interrupt ChatGPT.

Both are hallmarks of realistic conversations that older AI assistants struggle to handle.

  - Reuters