Amazon Stock: AI Push Boosts Shares On NASDAQ

Amazon's stock gained momentum on the NASDAQ, rising 1.87 percent to $216.78 as the company unveiled a significant advancement in artificial intelligence. The tech giant has completely revamped its voice assistant with the introduction of "Alexa+," transforming it into a personalized AI chatbot. This enhanced version will be offered free to Prime subscribers, while other users will need to pay $19.99 monthly. Amazon's strategic advantage lies in Alexa's familiarity with users' habits, contacts, and schedules. The redesigned assistant can now detect moods, respond accordingly, and control smart home devices more naturally-for instance, playing music throughout a house while excluding a baby's room. The platform's technical foundation has been completely rebuilt to support these new capabilities, leveraging Amazon's base of over 600 million installed devices.

Market Position Strengthened

The AI overhaul, internally codenamed "Banyan," positions Amazon competitively in the growing market for AI applications against rivals like Apple and Google, who have similarly enhanced their voice assistants. Analysts project a favorable outlook for Amazon's stock, with an average price target of $258.86 for fiscal year 2025-significantly above current levels. The company's financial performance already shows promise, with last quarter's earnings nearly doubling year-over-year to $1.90 per share, while revenue increased 10.49 percent to $187.79 billion.