In order to bolster its position in the technological industry’s artificial intelligence race, Amazon introduced a “smarter and more conversational” Alexa voice assistant.

Every year, the company hosts a devices bonanza at which it unveils a smattering of new hardware and software products. During his final keynote address, Amazon’s devices chief Dave Limp demonstrated an updated Alexa with generative AI features.

This year, Limp plans to step down from his role at Amazon after 13 years of service.

Amazon demonstrated a montage of Alexa users at its new second headquarters in northern Virginia asking Alexa for information such as “the best dates to travel to Puerto Rico.” After asking Alexa for a story about balloons, one man abruptly changed his mind and requested a story about Jell-O instead.

During Limp’s demo, there were a few hiccups. Occasionally, Alexa lagged in responding, and Limp had to repeat his question a few times.

This new feature will be available as an “early preview” to existing Echo owners in the coming weeks. Amazon calls it “Let’s chat.”

Alexa’s new voice will be more human-like, and she will be able to hold more natural conversations without being prompted by a wake word. Each new interaction will also allow it to learn more about users.

Alexa will be able to compose messages for users and send them on their behalf, similar to ChatGPT or other generative AI applications. For instance, Amazon showed a football invitation Alexa sent to a friend, asking him to come over.