Amazon’s Alexa Fund Now Investing in AI Startups Because Apparently, It’s Lonely

In a move that shocked absolutely no one, Amazon’s Alexa Fund has decided to broaden its horizons from just backing voice startups to now throwing money at any AI startup that can spell ‘machine learning’. Because, let’s face it, after years of asking Alexa to tell us jokes and play Despacito on loop, it’s clear she’s been feeling a bit lonely.

The fund, which started in 2015 with the modest goal of making sure Alexa didn’t grow up to be a mute, is now on a mission to ‘diversify its portfolio’. Or, in layman’s terms, buy friends for Alexa. Because what’s better than one AI assistant? A whole family of them, apparently. Amazon’s latest blog post, which we’re pretty sure was written by Alexa herself, talks about the exciting future of multimodal AI models. We’re not entirely sure what that means, but it sounds expensive.

Here’s what we think Amazon is really saying: ‘We’ve run out of ideas for Alexa, so we’re outsourcing creativity to startups that might still have some.’ It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for them.

With the advent of large language models, Alexa has gone from being that one friend who knows a weird amount of trivia to the friend who won’t shut up about blockchain at parties. And now, Amazon wants to make sure she’s not the only one. The Alexa Fund is now looking to invest in AI startups that can do everything from predicting the weather to predicting when you’ll finally give up on your New Year’s resolution.

But let’s be real, the fund’s main goal is probably to find the next big thing before Google or Apple does. Because in the tech world, it’s not about making the best product; it’s about making sure your rivals don’t make it first. So, if you’re an AI startup with a dream and a PowerPoint presentation, now’s your chance. Just don’t mention Siri. Alexa gets jealous.