Amazon event 2025: Smarter Alexa with Gen AI capabilities to debut this month-end

Amazon was supposed to host its annual fall event in the 2024 Q4 but skipped it as the company reportedly couldn't complete the new version of Alexa digital assistant.

Now, Amazon has announced that it will conduct the product launch event in New York City on February 26. For the first time, the programme will also see Panos Panay, Amazon's new leader of Devices & Services business (D&S).

Before joining Amazon, Panay served close to 20 years at Microsoft. Panay was the chief product officer who oversaw the Redmond-based company's most successful Surface series PCs and tablets.

With Panay at the helm of Amazon's product division, fans and industry experts expect something big at the February 26 event.

Here's what to expect at Amazon's first big event of 2025:

Alexa made its debut a decade ago in 2014, but over the years, the digital assistant has kind of lost its appeal to customers. It is lagging way behind Google's Gemini AI, and OpenAI's ChatGPT, which also powers Microsoft's Copilot. Alexa is now being used on echo speakers to get the latest news updates, alarms and reminders in the kitchen for cooking and is rarely used to make a full purchase of a product.

In terms of natural interaction with humans, answering complex queries, and doing tasks, it is way behind its rivals.

One of the issues that slowed Amazon's efforts to improve Alexa was to cut down on hallucination, which by the way, still haunts other gen AI bots in the market. Google, OpenAI Microsoft and others have all faced the heat at the start. But, they have managed to reduce it.

An Amazon Echo Spot, an Amazon Echo Plus 1st Generation, an Amazon Echo Button and an Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation.

For the uninitiated, AI hallucinations are misleading answers and suggestions offered by the chatbots. Due to an incorrect understanding of data sets, AI agents create the wrong assumptions and while responding to the user, deliver inaccurate suggestions and end up hurting the sentiments of a community or race.

For instance, in the early iterations of AI models, the latter used to stereotypically assume women should be at home. This is just one of many things that went wrong with the early version of AI models.

However, things have changed a lot for good. Even for the Amazon. At the upcoming programme, the company is expected to unveil a smarter Alexa digital assistant and a slew of Echo smart speakers.

The new Alexa will be able to listen to long and complex questions and answer them articulately. It will be able to perform as a true digital assistant the way Star Trek (TV series)'s Super Computer of USS Enterprise, envisioned by Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos a decade ago.

Reuters has reported that Amazon's newly developed Alexa, which is internally known as 'Banyan' aka 'Remarkable Alexa' will be able to offer personalised suggestions such as best hotels nearby, and best music playlists based on particular users' tastes and habits.

There were reports that Amazon levies fees for using an advanced version of Alexa. But, it has come to light, that the Seattle-based company will go slow with this move. Initially, it will be offered free for select users in a few regions worldwide and later probably bring tier plans similar to how Google offers Gemini AI features on the Workspace suite of apps.

Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech.