Sean Michael Cummings
Mon, Jan 12, 2026|Sean Michael Cummings

Amazon's Biggest 'Flop' Will Bring Voice AI to the Masses

Four years ago, Amazon (AMZN) took an 11-digit bath on Alexa...

Alexa probably needs no introduction. It's the voice assistant baked into millions of Amazon Smart TVs, Echo speakers, and other hardware devices.

But in 2022, a Business Insider report revealed that the division behind Amazon's Alexa was a money pit. The team was on pace to lose $10 billion that year...

Alexa's prospects quickly dimmed from there. David Limp, Amazon's senior vice president of devices and services who had championed Alexa, exited the company in late 2023.

Around the same time, CEO Andy Jassy laid off several hundred employees involved in the Alexa division.

To Wall Street, Alexa products looked like a weight around Amazon's neck – a massive investment in voice computing that wound up being a misfire.

But the recent Consumer Electronics Show ("CES") has thrown Amazon's Alexa strategy into a completely different light. And it announced Amazon as a major new competitor in the AI race...

Alexa+ Is Amazon's Big Swing to Start 2026

The future of the AI revolution is voice-based...

According to a survey by AI company Deepgram, 67% of businesses consider voice AI critical to their business strategy. And 84% plan to increase investment in AI voice technology.

In short, voice computing is finally having its moment...

In this new light, the market's estimation of Alexa couldn't have been more wrong. It wasn't a colossal failure that some outlets described. It was simply ahead of its time...

As AI makes voice computing more and more ubiquitous, Amazon has turned its Alexa flop into a massive hardware advantage.

And Amazon drove this point home at the recent CES, when it announced a number of new tech and service offerings.

But the most important announcement was the debut of Alexa+...

Alexa+ is Amazon's new enterprise AI chatbot. A competitor to the likes of Gemini and ChatGPT, Alexa+ is already available for Amazon Prime subscribers. And it'll soon be baked into Amazon's Echo, Kindle, Ring, and Fire TV devices all over the world.

That represents a huge adoption base of 600 million Alexa devices already in use today.

This new voice layer will let Alexa execute a broad array of products and services, including...

  • Smart home control
  • Reservations and appointment making
  • Music streaming
  • Grocery ordering
  • Enhanced home surveillance

Amazon might be late to the AI fight... but it's starting 2026 with a huge swing.

The e-commerce giant just leapfrogged its competitors when it comes to AI hardware and voice computing.

Amazon may not have been a poster child of the AI trade so far. But by doubling down on Alexa, it's setting up to become a genuine contender in the space.

Don't miss this key narrative for 2026. Amazon belongs on your watch list today.

Good investing,

Sean Michael Cummings

Editor's note: If you're worried you missed out on the opportunity to profit from this AI rally, you're not alone... But you could soon have a chance to catch up, thanks to a unique phenomenon that could send $7.4 trillion pouring into select stocks. Before it's too late, check out this free presentation – which includes the No. 1 stock to own ahead of that surge.

Further Reading

With AI spending expected to surpass $2.8 trillion by 2029, many investors are wondering, "Is all this spending worth it?" But according to one analyst, there's still plenty of money to be made on the AI boom. And five key forces will drive the next stage of this AI rally.

In 2018, investing legend Warren Buffett called Amazon's road to success a "miracle"... But even he missed out on the e-commerce giant's moonshot gains. If you want to avoid his mistake, you don't need to be an expert – you just need to pay attention.

Market Notes

HIGHS AND LOWS

NEW HIGHS OF NOTE LAST WEEK 

Alphabet (GOOGL)... tech "World Dominator"
Koninklijke Philips (PHG)... medical technology
TJX Companies (TJX)... discount department store
Ulta Beauty (ULTA)... cosmetics
Estée Lauder (EL)... cosmetics
Expedia (EXPE)... online travel agency
Southwest Airlines (LUV)... airline
Marriott International (MAR)... hotels
Mueller Industries (MLI)... manufacturing
Valero Energy (VLO)... oil refiner
New Gold (NGD)... gold
Kinross Gold (KGC)... gold
Eldorado Gold (EGO)... gold
Barrick Mining (B)... gold
Alamos Gold (AGI)... gold
First Majestic Silver (AG)... silver
Southern Copper (SCCO)... copper

NEW LOWS OF NOTE LAST WEEK

GitLab (GTLB)... software
GoDaddy (GDDY)... website hosting
American Tower (AMT)... communications REIT

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