Amazon unveils Alexa+ voice assistant with new AI features

The new Alexa is here: 亚马逊 announced Alexa+, a new service that integrates generative AI natively into the company’s longtime voice assistant, promising more natural conversations and the ability to autonomously handle tasks such as travel arrangements and activity planning. Amazon is under pressure to match or surpass the functionality of ChatGPT and other AI assistants. Alexa+ will be free to Prime members, and $19.99/month on its own. Read more.

Expedia Group laid off an undisclosed amount of employees. Marketing and creative teams were impacted by the layoffs, according to posts on LinkedIn. Read more.

• Warner Bros. Games is shutting down three of its video game studios, including Monolith Productions (WB Games) , a longtime developer based in the Seattle area that is laying off 131 workers. Read more.
• Track recent layoffs here.

Want to make friends with a colorful AI alien? A startup with Seattle roots launched an app called Tolan, which aims to foster seamless human-AI companionship and has already raised $10 million from big-name tech backers and attracted 500,000 downloads. Read more.

Other funding news:

• Bridgetown Research , a Seattle startup that uses AI to help investment firms and corporate teams supercharge their research efforts, raised $19 million.
• Starcloud (YC S24) , a Seattle space startup previously known as Lumen Orbit, raised $10 million.
• CarbonQuest , a Spokane startup that captures carbon from industrial sites, raised $20 million.
• Impact Laboratories , a Spokane startup that verifies the environmental bona fides of labs, raised $4.95 million.
• Opal , a Vancouver, B.C., startup that automates back-office tasks for ad agencies, raised $1.5 million.
• Track all recent fundings across the Pacific Northwest here.

Jeff Bezos is shaking up the opinion section at The Washington Post again, with a directive to focus on defending the pillars of personal liberties and free markets, as he put it in a memo to employees. The move by the billionaire Amazon founder and owner of the newspaper led to the resignation of the Post’s opinion editor. Read more.

Grab your tickets now for Microsoft@50, a GeekWire event in Seattle on March 20 where we’ll gather with key leaders of the tech giant’s past and present — including former CEO Steve Ballmer . Learn more and get tickets.

Yes, Slack is down. Or at least it was when we were finishing this newsletter as of 45 minutes ago. Our solution was to use the comments in Google Docs as an impromptu chat feature. What was yours? Or did you take the opportunity to take a break? Email [email protected] to let us know.

Hot Links:

• 微软 lifted some usage limits on conversations with its Copilot AI assistant. (The Verge)?
• Microsoft informed the Republican National Committee last year about a breach of its email system tied to the Chinese government. (Wall Street Journal)
• Sanctuary AI , the Vancouver, B.C.-based robot maker, announced new tactile sensors that improve the dexterity of its Phoenix general purpose robots. (Sanctuary AI Blog)

• A survey of U.S. workers shows that AI chatbots can speed up work — but not necessarily improve quality. (Pew Research)

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