Amazon is developing an upgraded version of Alexa that will allow for ChatGPT-like natural conversations, but it will reportedly come at a cost.

Alexa Plus is a new version of the voice assistant built on a large-scale language model similar to Microsoft Copilot and Google Bard, expected to launch later this year.

BusinessInsider reports that Amazon is expected to charge a monthly subscription to cover the increased costs of running generative AI on a large scale. Pricing details have not been disclosed.

Amazon already has a number of subscription products, including Prime, Kids+, and Kindle Unlimited, so this plan will likely be structured similarly.

In September, Amazon held an Alexa event and revealed that it is working on a full-scale upgrade of Alexa that will use generative AI to give it better reasoning and communication capabilities.

One of the more important changes will be the ability to recognize the difference between a pause and the actual end of a request, beyond being able to have a conversation.

The company is testing this version of Alexa with 15,000 users across the U.S. and has named it "Remarkable Alexa" for its ability to communicate.

Along with this announcement, Amazon also announced new developer tools that will enable the launch of Alexa skills built on a large-scale language model. The first skill, announced last week, was to create music from simple voice prompts.

Artificial intelligence, especially generative AI, is not cheap. Running these large-scale language models currently requires significant computational resources.

Alexa currently uses a form of natural language AI that relies on specific data sets available to respond, such as contributor responses or Wikipedia. The next version of this assistant will be built on generative AI technology.

Companies like Microsoft currently charge for Co-Pilot Pro, and Google is expected to launch a paid version of Bird this year.

Amazon is said to be creating an entirely new technology stack with a more centralized structure in order to build a large-scale language model, integrate with third-party services, and create a new approach to voice assistance.

Business Insider reports that there are disagreements between the team that created the original Alexa and the team that ended up creating Alexa Plus.

The old team wants elements of their work to remain in Alexa going forward, but this has led to bloat in the technology, with undesirable consequences.

Whatever approach ultimately wins out, there is no doubt that a new generation of premium voice assistants will emerge this year. Apple will likely unveil its own Siri GPT at WWDC, and Google is looking to add a bird to its assistant.