AI music generator Suno has been making a lot of big headlines in recent months.
Just last month, the $500 million company was sued for copyright infringement by GEMA, the German collection society and licensing body.
In June, Suno was sued by the major record companies, along with fellow AI firm Udio, for allegedly training their systems using the majors’ recordings without permission – an accusation they pretty much admitted to in court filings in August.
The platform’s controversial reputation in the music industry doesn’t seem to have prevented tech giant Amazon – owner of Spotify rival Amazon Music – from partnering with it.
Amazon has unveiled a new AI-powered version of its Alexa voice assistant, and among the capabilities of the “next-generation” Alexa+ is an integration with AI music platform Suno.
“Using Alexa’s integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation,” Amazon said in a blog post on Wednesday (February 26).
“Using Alexa’s integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation.”
Amazon
Added Amazon: “Looking to delight your partner with a personalized song for their birthday based on their love of cats, or surprise your kid by creating a rap using their favorite cartoon characters? Alexa+ has you covered.”
Announcing the partnership in a social media post on Wednesday, Suno wrote: “We’re so excited to announce that Suno will be coming to Alexa+, so you can make any song you can imagine with the next generation of [Alexa]. What songs will you make with your Alexa?”
Suno’s Alexa integration arrives four months after Timbaland formed an official partnership with the platform, joining Suno as a strategic advisor after what it said were “months” of him “being a top user of the platform”.
Amazon’s willingness to do business with AI companies at odds with the music industry isn’t limited to the integration with Suno.
The company is a major investor in Anthropic, the AI developer sued last February by music publishers, including Universal Music Publishing, Concord, and ABKCO over its alleged use of copyrighted lyrics.
Last month, Universal, Concord Music and ABKCO welcomed court-approved ‘guardrails’ in the Anthropic AI dispute, while the legal battle continues.
“We’re so excited to announce that Suno will be coming to Alexa+.”
Suno
With a $4 billion investment into Anthropic last fall, Amazon has put a total of $8 billion into the AI developer.
Anthropic’s Claude chatbot is also integrated into Alexa+, as part of a “routing system” designed to make the voice assistant respond faster and more accurately (according to Amazon) than current chatbots.
Alexa+ also includes a feature that allows users to track their favorite musical artists, and learn about new trending music online.
“Have questions about that new song that is trending online, or want to know the next time your favorite artist drops a new track? Just ask Alexa+ and receive the answers and alerts you need, when you need them,” Amazon says.
Meanwhile, listening to music through Amazon’s voice assistant is also becoming more convenient, with the ability to shift music from one device to another by telling Alexa+, for instance, to “play the music upstairs” or “play the music everywhere except the kids’ rooms.”
And thanks to an integration with Ticketmaster, Alexa+ can “find you the best tickets to an upcoming basketball game or to the concert you’ve been dying to go to,” Amazon says. “You’ll get a notification in the Alexa app when the tickets are available or when they drop down to a price range you choose.”
For the time being, Alexa+ is available in “early access” mode for users of the Echo Show tablet (models 8, 10, 15, and 21), and is available in English to users in the US. According to a FAQ page, it will eventually be available on all Echo devices except for certain older, first-generation devices.
“Alexa+ is designed to take action, and is able to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices—which, to our knowledge, has never been done at this scale.”
Panos Panay, Amazon
The company hasn’t offered a timeline for when it will expand to other Alexa-enabled devices, or when it will be available outside the US and in other languages.
Alexa+ will be free for Amazon Prime subscribers, and will cost $19.99 per month for non-subscribers.
And of course, it has capabilities far beyond music.
“Alexa+ is designed to take action, and is able to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices—which, to our knowledge, has never been done at this scale,” Amazon SVP of Devices and Services Panos Panay wrote in a blog post.
Panay said Alexa+’s capabilities are built around groups of systems, capabilities, and APIs known as “experts,” designed to accomplish specific tasks for specific users.
“With these experts, Alexa+ can control your smart home with products from Philips Hue, Roborock, and more; make reservations or appointments with OpenTable and Vagaro; explore discographies and play music from providers including Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and iHeartRadio; order groceries from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market, or delivery from Grubhub and Uber Eats; remind you when tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster; and use Ring to alert you if someone is approaching your house,” Panay wrote.
Alexa+ will also have “agentic capabilities” that will allow it to surf the internet in a self-directed way to accomplish tasks.
“Let’s say you need to get your oven fixed – Alexa+ will be able to navigate the web, use Thumbtack to discover the relevant service provider, authenticate, arrange the repair, and come back to tell you it’s done – there’s no need to supervise or intervene,” Panay wrote.
Users will also be able to customize the information Alexa+ has on hand. They will be able to email or upload documents, photos, notes, and other materials, which will then be part of Alexa+’s knowledge base for that user. For instance, you could upload your mortgage contract to Alexa+, then simply ask the voice assistant about details of your mortgage, instead of digging through paperwork.
Giving Alexa+ that level of detail about one’s private life raises privacy concerns, but Amazon assures users their privacy will be protected.
“We centralize important information such as your interactions with Alexa+ and various settings into the Alexa Privacy dashboard. Built on the secure infrastructure of AWS [Amazon Web Services], Alexa+ brings world-class privacy and security protection to your everyday interactions,” the company wrote.
For businesses wishing to integrate with Alexa+, Amazon has rolled out a series of software development kits (SDKs) The Alexa AI Action SDK turns conventional APIs into actions that Alexa can perform, such as buying concert tickets, or monitoring until those tickets appear at a desired price point. This is the ADK used for Ticketmaster’s integration with Alexa+.
The AI Web Action SDK allows Alexa+ to perform tasks on enterprise websites. Through the SDK, businesses can specify a workflow for Alexa+ to follow. This is the SDK used to integrate local services marketplace Thumbtack.
The AI Multi-Agent SDK is designed for complex tasks and is designed to create “specialized agents that will be extremely smart in very specific areas.”
This SDK was used for the integration of Suno’s music creation capabilities, as well as for the integration of a math tutor powered by Wolfram.
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