By Michael Scott
Currently, Amazon’s Alexa provides Explore with Alexa, an attribute that offers customized and trusted educational answers.
With the holiday shopping season building up, Amazon is seeking an edge over its rivals in the consumer artificial intelligence (AI) space. It intends to achieve this by adding generative artificial intelligence attributes to Alexa, its cross-device and cross-platform digital assistant.
Amazon Launches AI Assistive Tool
On Wednesday, the technology and e-commerce behemoth introduced Explore with Alexa, which mainly targets kids.
Explore with Alexa is made to offer more tailored and age-suitable replies to queries from children. Amazon told a media outlet that it would be incorporated with the Amazon Kids+ monthly subscription. Additionally, it will be accessible on all Amazon Echo devices, having children’s profiles.
The firm said that when children question Alexa concerning nature and animals, the feature will reply with petty queries and fun facts. The replies are based on ‘reliable sources’ such as A-Z Animals and the World Wildlife Fund.
Arjun Venkataswamy, Alexa Kids’ Senior Product Manager, said their large language model (LLM) enables the adaptation of the scrutinized content into kid-appropriate and natural responses that have age-fitting jargon. He claimed they initially began with trivial queries since, besides being entertaining, they leverage ‘activating prior knowledge,’ a properly-researched education tactic.
Amazon says the revised Alexa will enable children to learn on demand by mentioning its wake-up command and asking questions. Besides, the service will prompt queries to keep children occupied and focused on examining a topic more profoundly.
Arjun said that compared to Alexa, Explore with Alexa comprises similar accessibility attributes and focus. Part of the artificial intelligence and hybrid human assessment process entails reviewing all Explore with Alexa data to ensure its suitability for children with vast backgrounds.
Tech Firms Invests in AI Technology
Like Microsoft and Google, Amazon has significantly invested in generative artificial intelligence technology. This includes a $4B investment in Anthropic, Claude AI developer and OpenAI competitor.
Last month, the e-commerce giant introduced numerous artificial intelligence-powered products, which include additions to its smart home products line. Customizing generative artificial intelligence to cater to children’s needs has been a touchy topic.
In this case, legislators and supervisory bodies are cautious of technology accessible to kids. On Tuesday, a lawsuit against Meta, the parent firm of Facebook and Instagram, was filed by 34 states on assertions concerning the utilization of algorithms to force children to spend more time on the platforms.
They also claimed that they result in mental health problems among adolescents. Arjun said that to build on their long-term promise to maintain their clients’ trust, Explore with Alexa prioritizes security and trust.
He also said they use content guardrails, including a blend of artificial intelligence and human review, beginning with secure and objective topics such as animals and acquiring information from reliable sources.
Despite artificial intelligence developers seeking to protect children online, questions concerning the collection of AI model data, its storage, and persons accessing it are still a significant concern.
Amazon to Challenge Other Tech Firms in AI Development
Technology firms such as Samsung and Apple, the United States Space Force, and the United States House of Representatives have limited or barred workers and servicemembers from utilizing ChatGPT because of data leaks and loss of intellectual property (IP) fears. In September, results recommended the need for Amazon to train its artificial intelligence models on client conversations.
This reawakened concerns from 2019 regarding reports that the firm recruited human contractors to eavesdrop on Alexa recordings. According to an Amazon representative, clients can opt out of disclosing their information to the firm.
The spokesperson said that Amazon has always been confident that using real-world requests to train Alexa is crucial to offering an experience to clients that is precise and custom-made and consistently becoming better.
However, in collaboration, clients are offered control over whether their voice recordings are utilized for service improvement. Additionally, the firm respects the client’s preferences during the models’ training.
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