While there’s been much talk about Amazon’s generative AI-powered overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant and the expected subscription cost, we’ve heard little from the e-commerce giant in terms of a launch date. New reports indicate that a launch is expected in October and confirm that a subscription will be required.

Also: 5 Ways Amazon Can Make an AI-Powered Alexa Subscription Worth the Cost

The new and improved Alexa with AI-enabled capabilities is expected to launch in just over a month, a delay from what was expected earlier this year when reports suggested it would launch in September. It will be a paid alternative voice assistant to the “classic Alexa,” which is what Amazon is referring to as the currently available free version in internal documents obtained by the Washington Post. The report notes that a subscription to the new virtual assistant, dubbed “Remarkable Alexa,” could cost as much as $10 per month.

By giving Alexa AI capabilities, Amazon would give its popular artificial intelligence assistant the ability to generate content instead of repeating responses from its trained commands. Instead of searching for a recipe, for example, Alexa could create one that’s customized to dietary restrictions or use the ingredients in your pantry.

It could also create text, such as stories, emails, poems, songs, etc. Kids could ask Alexa to create a story about their family dog ​​to hear a new bedtime story starring Fido. It would be remarkable if you, like me, had exhausted Alexa’s catalog of stories.

Also: Echo Pop vs Echo Dot: Which Alexa Smart Speaker Should You Choose?

Along with its new-gen AI capabilities, the new Alexa could have more natural conversations with you, answer follow-up questions, and use a more human voice. In the report, Amazon says, “AI features that help customers curate, summarize, and explore current events were also rated among the top customer requests.”

Amazon announced that Alexa would gain AI-gen capabilities in September 2023 during the company’s Devices and Services event, where it demonstrated the new voice assistant’s features. The announcement comes after a year of explosive growth in AI technologies, marked by the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.

Since OpenAI’s chatbot became widely available, Microsoft and Google have released their own AI chatbots, Copilot and Gemini. Pressure has mounted to improve existing virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant, which perform dismally well compared to an AI tool like ChatGPT.

Also: ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the Best AI Chatbot?

Apple announced the release of Apple Intelligence in June. A slew of next-gen AI features are coming to new iPhones, iPads, and Macs, including a revamped Siri complete with ChatGPT integration. The service is expected to be broadly available in 2025. Google is also slowly upgrading the Google Assistant, rebranded as Gemini, with AI, though that too is not yet broadly available.

While it’s easy to use ChatGPT’s voice functionality on my iPhone, it’s limited to an app, so I understand the need for an AI-powered virtual assistant. ChatGPT can’t control your phone, send messages, make calls, or create shortcuts to different apps like assistants like Siri and Google can. Unlike Alexa, ChatGPT can’t control your smart home, turn off your lights at night, or create automations to turn on an appliance if a light is left on.