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Amazon’s Alexa Gets Smarter: AI-Powered Alexa+ Launches in Australia

Amazon has officially launched Alexa+ in Australia, bringing its generative AI-powered virtual assistant to local Echo devices. Moving beyond basic voice triggers, setting kitchen timers, and answering surface-level queries, Alexa+ represents a complete overhaul aimed at making smart home interaction far more natural, intuitive, and action-oriented. Powered by Amazon Bedrock and advanced large language models (LLMs), Alexa+ is designed to behave less like a command-line interface and more like a conversational assistant.  * Natural Conversation & Context Tracking: You no longer need to speak in rigid, robotic phrases. Alexa+ can process mid-sentence pauses, stumbles, and multi-step requests without requiring a repeated wake word for every follow-up question.  * Localised Australian Personality: Tailored specifically for Aussie households, the local engineering and linguistics teams trained Alexa+ to understand Aussie slang, idioms (from "arvo" to "snags...

Get a Sneak Peek at On-Device Generative AI with AICore Developer Preview


This exciting initiative is your ticket to early access, allowing you to test and prototype with pre-production models, including the powerful Gemini Nano, directly on your Android device. It's all about empowering developers to integrate advanced generative AI features into their applications.

Prerequisites

You'll need to join the experimental Google group and enrol as a tester through the Android AICore app on the Play Store.

Once enrolled, your Pixel device (if supported) will gain access to Developer Preview mode. This means you can bypass quota limits for more frequent testing and download pre-production models.

AICore processes inferences directly on your device, streaming real-time responses. This means your AI experiences are fast and private.

These are preview models. You might encounter lower performance, reduced accuracy, or even potential impacts on system stability and storage.
For your peace of mind, AICore does not store any data after a request is processed. Each prompt is treated as an independent interaction.


The program provides a direct channel for you to share your experiences and help shape the future of on-device AI.
You can easily manage your enrollment by opting in or out through the Google Play Store, providing you with complete flexibility in your development workflow.
The AICore Developer Preview is a fantastic opportunity for developers to explore, experiment, and optimise on-device generative AI.

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