Alexa could soon come with a price tag.. 

Amazon's not playing around! Rumour has it they're cooking up a fancy, AI-powered upgrade for our good ol' Alexa, and here's the twist – it might come with a price tag!

Flashback to Amazon's Device and Services event in September – they spilled the beans that Alexa's getting a major facelift with new generative AI upgrades, supercharging its communication skills.

Now, the hot gossip is that this souped-up version is being called 'Remarkable Alexa' behind closed doors. When it hits the scene, it'll be known as 'Alexa Plus,' and here's the kicker – they're dropping hints that it's going to be a subscription-based affair. Yep, you might have to cough up a little extra for the Alexa VIP treatment! Rumour has it June 30 is the big day they're circling on the calendar for this high-tech debut. 

Microsoft has unveiled a subscription service for its AI assistant Copilot, ready to blend seamlessly into Windows 11 keyboards. Meanwhile, Google is cooking up a combo, merging two voice assistant services into one with Assistant with Bard, expected to hit the scene this year. On Amazon's end, they're keeping mum on the report, leaving us in the dark about subscription costs or how it'll roll out across Alexa devices.

According to the grapevine over at Business Insider, the souped-up Alexa, aka 'Alexa Plus,' promises exclusive AI features for more natural convos, akin to ChatGPT, giving users a personalised touch. Picture this – Alexa Plus might even pick up on pauses in speech and distinguish them from completed requests. Cool, right? Well, hold your horses; it's not all smooth sailing.

Right now, Alexa Plus seems to be in its awkward teenage phase. Tests with 15,000 people have uncovered a few hiccups. While it nails the personalised chat vibe, its responses reportedly play a bit of dodgeball, offering deflections and even inaccurate info. Talk about a buzzkill. These glitches might push back the launch, and the team's reportedly in a tug of war over the Alexa upgrade's direction.

The secret sauce to Alexa Plus's new AI features lies in a fancy Large Language Model (LLM) codenamed Olympus. But, here's the twist – merging old and new Alexa technologies is causing a tech stack overload and some internal drama among the team. Beyond the tech drama, there's a murmuring within Amazon about the idea of slapping a price tag on Alexa Plus. Some are scratching their heads, wondering if Amazon subscribers already shelling out for services like Amazon Music will be down for an extra hit to their wallets. Amazon only recently introducing new generative AI apps for Alexa. You can now chat it up with characters and personas through a chatbot from Character.ai or even create your music tracks using Splash Music. But would you pay another subscription fee (among the many we already pay for) for a souped up version of Alexa?