Amazon’s Bold Move to Elevate Alexa’s Intelligence
In the early days of digital assistants, Microsoft had a promising lead with Cortana, named after the iconic AI character from Halo, giving it a strong branding advantage. Apple also had a solid opportunity with Siri, marketing it effectively but seemingly holding back on serious development. Meanwhile, Amazon took a different approach—rapidly rolling out product after product powered by Alexa, solidifying its place in the smart assistant space.
Google, never one to lag behind, shifted its focus to Gemini, an advanced AI model deeply integrated into its Pixel smartphones.
What makes the current landscape even more interesting is Panos Panay—the driving force behind Microsoft Surface and the Surface Duo—who has now joined Amazon. His presence at Amazon suggests that the company is doubling down on what Microsoft could have done with Cortana but never fully realized.
Let’s explore how we arrived at this point, what this strategic shift means for Alexa’s future, and why Amazon’s renewed focus on AI could redefine the smart assistant market. To wrap things up, I’ll share my Product of the Week: AMD’s new RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards.
Microsoft’s Missed Opportunity with Cortana
Microsoft had a unique opportunity to lead the AI assistant market with Cortana, leveraging its deep connection to the iconic Halo video game. By naming its AI after a beloved character, the company had a built-in advantage—one that could have set the stage for a groundbreaking digital assistant experience. In fact, an independent engineer successfully created a working version of what Cortana should have been, demonstrating its immense potential. Had Microsoft fully developed and marketed this vision, Cortana could have dominated the AI landscape, becoming an essential part of tech-driven homes—especially for those who grew up with Halo.
Instead, Microsoft followed a familiar pattern: underfunding, under-executing, and failing to market the product effectively. Despite its early start, Cortana never received the investment needed to evolve into a true AI powerhouse. Ultimately, Microsoft abandoned it—ironically, just a few years before the rise of generative AI, when such an assistant could have been revolutionary. What could have been a defining AI product became yet another unrealized Microsoft innovation.
Apple’s Siri: A Missed AI Revolution
Apple had a prime opportunity to dominate the AI assistant market with Siri, which, unlike Microsoft’s Cortana, was well-marketed and widely adopted. However, despite its polished presentation, Siri was never a true AI—it functioned more as a speech-to-text and text-to-speech interface rather than an intelligent assistant. Apple’s slick advertising created high expectations, but in reality, Siri often fell short of delivering a truly smart experience.
Even today, Siri is frequently cited in AI discussions as an example of what isn’t AI. Apple had a golden opportunity to change that with its now-defunct partnership with IBM. If Siri had been integrated with IBM’s watsonx, it could have evolved into the first truly AI-powered assistant. However, Apple’s history of struggling with partnerships—combined with IBM’s limited ability to salvage the collaboration—led to its failure before it ever had a chance to succeed.
Siri remains a core part of Apple’s ecosystem, but as AI advances, its relevance may diminish. With Apple now fully embracing AI, there’s hope that Siri could finally evolve beyond its limitations—or risk becoming obsolete in the rapidly expanding AI landscape.
Alexa’s Unexpected Edge in the AI Race
Despite losing billions on Alexa, calling it a failure would be misleading. Unlike other digital assistants, Amazon recognized Alexa’s potential as more than just an AI companion—it became a seamless front end for retail, helping users shop, set reminders, and integrate with their daily routines. From checking the weather in the morning to answering trivia about TV shows at night, Alexa has embedded itself into everyday life in ways its competitors haven’t.
While Alexa, like Cortana and Siri, has traditionally functioned as a web-based assistant rather than true AI, it has remained far more useful than either. The only real competition in our home is Google Assistant, though it lacks the charm of a recognizable name.
Now, a game-changing shift is coming. Alexa is finally getting generative AI capabilities, a move Amazon initially promised in 2023 but delayed to ensure quality over speed. This upgraded assistant, called Alexa+, will be available to Prime members and work across Alexa devices, a dedicated smartphone app, and even Amazon’s website.
With this upgrade, Amazon may have out-executed Apple, Google, and Microsoft—despite not being a traditional tech giant or having a popular gaming tie-in like Cortana. While Google is making strides with AI on Pixel phones, Alexa+ might just make me reconsider my loyalty to Google Assistant.
Final Thoughts: The Future of Alexa+
If you haven’t started working with AI, now is the time. As we move deeper into the decade, AI will become an essential tool—handling complex queries, generating content, offering tailored advice, and enhancing productivity.
With Alexa+, Amazon is taking digital assistants to the next level. Users will be able to jump to specific scenes in movies they own or rent on Amazon Video, request custom playlists on Amazon Music, and receive more intelligent, context-aware responses—far beyond the basic web page readings Alexa previously relied on.
One of Alexa+’s most exciting upgrades is its ability to understand natural language. Instead of memorizing rigid commands, users can give it multi-step instructions based on past interactions. Want to book the same restaurant for your anniversary as last year? Done. Need to buy tickets at a specific price or find a reliable repair service? Alexa+ can handle it.
For those using Ring security cameras, the AI integration is a game-changer. Imagine asking Alexa+ to identify frequent visitors to your property, check if your kids are really walking the dog, or even locate your missing cat—provided the camera has spotted it.
However, AI adoption isn’t without challenges. Quality control remains a concern, and developers still have work to do in refining AI-generated responses. Third-party integration issues may arise initially, but as the ecosystem evolves, these will likely improve.
Panos Panay had ambitious goals at Microsoft, but now at Amazon, he finally has the resources to make his vision a reality. Who knows? Maybe a future Amazon device will do what the Cortana prototype once promised—giving Alexa+ a face and personality. The AI-powered assistant revolution is just beginning.