Despite the new Echo Show and Fire TVs, along with updated Echo Frames and a brand-new Echo Hub smart controller announced at last week’s Amazon event, a smarter version of Alexa, powered by generative AI, stole the show. Microsoft and YouTube’s fall events later that week were also centered around the theme of artificial intelligence. It’s no surprise that “generative AI” was everywhere during Big Tech’s fall product launch events this year.
Dave Limp, Senior VP of Devices and Services at Amazon, outlined how “generative AI is going to be the foundation of what drives the next step function in ambient intelligence” when revealing that an all-new Alexa voice assistant will be powered by its new Alexa large language model. Similar sentiments were echoed during the “Made on YouTube” event in New York when YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said they “want to make it easier for everyone to feel like they can create” and “believe generative AI will make that possible.” At Microsoft’s special Surface event in New York, CEO Satya Nadella clearly positioned the company as the AI leader, with its range of products now powered by generative AI. “I mean, it’s crazy,” he said. “It’s kind of like the ’90s are back.”
Generative AI is shaping up to be the driving force behind the next wave of innovation in technology. With Amazon, Microsoft, and YouTube all heavily investing in this area, we can expect to see exciting developments in AI-powered products and services in the near future