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Amazon plans to offer an AI-powered version of its decade-old Alexa voice assistance, and will charge a monthly fee to offset the expense of running it, CNBC reports, citing people with knowledge of Amazon's plans. The company has yet to decide on a price, however it will be in addition to the $139-per-year Prime subscription.

The new, generative AI-powered chatbot will reportedly be more 'conversational,' which the company hopes will place it in a position to better compete with generative AI offerings from Google and OpenAI – which NYU professor Scott Galloway called "Alexa and Siri killers" on a recent podcast. 

In September, Amazon former SVP of devices and services, David Limp, told The Verge that a more powerful version of Alexa was under consideration. 

According to the report, competition over new AI chatbots in recent months has increased internal pressure on Amazon to reinvest in Alexa – which, while initially a passion project for founder Jeff Bezos, fell to the wayside after Andy Jassy took over as CEO in 2021, according to three sources. Now, Jassy has been privately underwhelmed with Alexa's current capabilities.

Now, the Alexa team is looking to turn their baby into a relevant device that can compete with modern AIs – and the company has dedicated resources and headcount to this goal. CNBC further reports that Amazon has shifted much of the Alexa team towards AGI, or artificial general intelligence.

As of 2023 Amazon said it had sold over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices.

Just one question (aside from all the obvious surveillance implications), will Alexa finally be able to read stories as your dead grandma?