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Amazon Alexa Gets a Subscription-Based Upgrade, Can Siri Stay Behind for Much Longer?

Vaseline August 28, 2024

Amazon Alexa is getting a major upgrade soon, but there’s a catch.

After nearly 10 years of offering free virtual assistance through Alexa, Amazon reportedly has plans to create an AI-powered version of Alexa that could cost “as much as $10 a month,” according to The Washington Posta publication by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

If you already have an Echo speaker or other Amazon device, or are planning to buy one for its Alexa capabilities, don’t worry. You can still use the free version of Alexa, but you won’t have access to Alexa’s more advanced features, like “recipe suggestions based on your family’s dietary restrictions and AI-powered news summaries.”

This new development begs the question: Will all AI-based virtual assistants or services eventually offer a more powerful, more feature-rich version as a subscription?

ChatGPT, Gemini, Alexa: Is Siri Next?

After Google rebranded Bard as Gemini, it unveiled a new subscription model for access to its most premium AI assistant: Gemini Advanced. You can try the service for a month for $0, but after that first month it will cost $19.99 per month.

For $20/month, Gemini Advanced uses Google’s next-gen 1.5 Pro AI model, comes with 2TB of Google One storage, and lets you use Gemini in Gmail, Docs, and other services. For people who use virtual assistants for basic tasks, $20 for Gemini Advanced seems like a waste.

While Google was the first major tech company to implement a subscription for its AI-powered virtual assistant, it followed in OpenAI’s footsteps. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Plus in early 2023 for $20/month, giving users access to stronger AI models capable of handling more complex requests and other premium features.

With Google making the jump to subscriptions for Gemini Advanced, it’s no surprise that Amazon is now jumping on the bandwagon for more profit. But are people actually paying for Gemini Advanced?

There are currently no published subscriber numbers to look at, but in a poll of Android Police When asked if people pay for Gemini Advanced, 71% of the 2,363 votes answered, “No, I don’t pay for Gemini Advanced.”

With so many subscriptions to juggle right now — streaming services, dating apps, printer ink, meal delivery kits, and more — it doesn’t surprise me that the high percentage of people aren’t paying for Gemini Advanced. But if OpenAI, Google, and now Amazon are charging for an AI-powered version of their chatbot/VA, won’t Apple inevitably do the same?

Close-up of an iPhone in someone's hand with the Siri screen edge activated in iOS 18

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple already charges $19.95 per month for Apple One, so the company is clearly not averse to the subscription model. And Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC that Apple could try to pass it on with the Apple One subscription model, which would charge between $10 and $20 for Apple Intelligence.

I’m hoping that since the company already has an Apple One subscription for its users, any costs for Apple Intelligence will be rolled into the existing Apple One subscription options rather than a separate, additional subscription that needs to be maintained.

That said, isn’t AI already solving the wrong problems? Unless Google, Amazon, Apple, and others give clear reasons to invest in an AI-driven assistant instead of the basic version, I don’t see people spending $20 on it every month.

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Amazon Alexa Gets a Subscription-Based Upgrade, Can Siri Stay Behind for Much Longer?

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Amazon Alexa Gets a Subscription-Based Upgrade, Can Siri Stay Behind for Much Longer?

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