"Hey, Alexa! When are you getting an upgrade?" Has Amazon delayed its major Alexa AI enhancements, again?

I’ve been waiting for a harder, better, faster, stronger version of Amazon’s Alexa for what seems like forever, but reports suggest that I’m going to have to wait a little longer for the next-gen upgrade.

It’s no secret that Amazon is holding an event in New York on February 26, with Alexa set to headline the proceedings. And although this is still expected to go ahead, the Washington Post has reported that the public release of the enhanced virtual assistant will be delayed until March 31 at the earliest.

The Post’s source, an anonymous Amazon employee, has claimed that the delay was partially due to Alexa providing incorrect answers to questions during testing. This isn’t the first time Alexa's AI upgrade – dubbed 'Remarkable Alexa' – has been delayed, with sources reporting that a release was initially on the cards at the end of 2024. An exclusive Fortune story revealed that latency issues when responding to commands were partially responsible for the delay.

Such were Amazon's teething problems with its own AI, Reuters reported that Anthropic’s Claude AI would be integrated into 'Remarkable Alexa' according to five anonymous sources.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon has invested heavily in Anthropic, with Reuters reporting at the end of last year that the e-commerce conglomerate invested $4 billion (around £3.2 billion / AU$6.2 billion) in Anthropic, bringing its total investment to a whopping $8 billion (£6.3 billion / AU$12.5 billion).

A lot has changed since Alexa was introduced to the world in 2014. The AI boom has made the tech giant’s position at the forefront of virtual-assistant tech infinitely more precarious. With heavy competition from the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini, clearly Amazon needs to get this next step in the evolution of Alexa right.

Amazon has remained tight-lipped regarding 'Remarkable Alexa’s' goings-on behind the scenes, so I’m going to reserve any judgment until the end product is finally released. Still, it’s an exciting time for Alexa fans. Hopefully we’ll know more come the end of the month…

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