Overview

• Amazon's plan to launch a premium, subscription-based version of its AI-powered voice assistant, Alexa, is facing internal disputes and technical glitches.
• The new service, tentatively named 'Alexa Plus', is being tested with 15,000 customers but has been described as underwhelming and often provides inaccurate information.
• Amazon's voice assistant is lagging behind its rivals, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri, with a projected 75.6 million users compared to Google Assistant's 88.8 million and Siri's 84.2 million.
• There is internal debate over the feasibility of charging for Alexa, especially for customers already subscribed to other Amazon services.
• Alexa has faced criticism in the past, including allegations of spying on customers and disseminating false election information.