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"Alexa, how much can I get paid for developing Skills?" Come June 30, 2024, the answer is $0.
As Bloomberg reports, Amazon is shutting down its Alexa Developer Rewards Program, and will stop handing out free AWS credits to developers. Developers can still make money from in-app payments, though.
“These are older programs launched back in 2017 as a way to help newer developers interested in building skills accelerate their progress. Today, there are over 160,000 skills available for customers, a well-established Alexa developer community, and new LLM-powered tools that will help developers build new experiences for Alexa. These older programs have simply run their course, so we decided to sunset them," an Amazon spokesperson tells PCMag in a statement.
Skills are third-party apps you can add to Alexa, like you add apps to a smartphone. The rewards program dates back to 2017 and was intended to pay developers with high customer engagement. By 2018, Amazon had "paid millions of dollars to developers in 22 countries who’ve published skills in the US, UK, and Germany," the company said at the time. Still, by 2020 it had reduced the amount developers could earn from Skills.
Skills haven't really caught on with Alexa device owners. For one, you have to remember the wake phrase for individual Skills, and talking to Alexa still leaves something to be desired. Amazon is now experimenting with generative AI for Alexa, which allows for a more natural back-and-forth with its virtual assistant. It's also considering a paid version of Alexa.
In an email to developers published by Bloomberg, Amazon says it created the credits program "to build Alexa skills and support your development expenses," but after June 30, 2024, "you will no longer receive AWS promotional credits from Alexa.
"Developers like you have and will play a critical role in the success of Alexa and we appreciate your continued engagement," the email concludes.
An Amazon spokesperson tells Bloomberg that "fewer than 1% of developers" are affected by the program shutdowns.
Editors' Note: This story was updated with a statement from Amazon.