CNBC's Deirdre Bosa joins 'Money Movers' with the latest news from Amazon.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

Amazon is rolling out Alexa Plus, an enhanced version of its voice assistant, to Echo devices as part of its holiday sales strategy. The new AI assistant is designed to handle more natural conversations and remember contacts, aiming to improve user experience and demonstrate Amazon's capabilities in consumer AI.

Despite holding a leading share of the U.S. smart speaker market, Amazon has struggled to translate its large device footprint into significant AI momentum. Early reviews suggest Alexa Plus performs well as a chatbot, but its ability to execute real-world tasks remains to be fully tested. Further updates on Amazon's AI strategy are anticipated at the upcoming AWS reInvent event.

Amazon's Alexa+ AI push: Here's what to know

Amazon shares outperforming the Nasdaq up about 1% while shoppers are focused on the company's e-commerce on Black Friday. Dear Dubose is looking at their AI strategy big week next week, Dee. Big week with AWS and today in Monday, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holiday shopping in general, may be a chance for Amazon to rewrite this AI narrative that has not gone its way. Echo and other home devices, they go on sale for this holiday season and this time they come with early access to Alexa Plus. That is the company's attempt to prove that it has a consumer AI assistant that actually works. Alexa Plus can handle more natural conversations, remember contacts, and maybe most importantly, it pushes Amazon into the next leg of this race, which is voice, where it has an advantage, the home. Now there's hundreds of millions of Echo devices already sitting in kitchens and living rooms. A Statista survey from March of this year shows Amazon Echo is at 61% of U.S. smart speaker share, far ahead of its competitors. So far though, Amazon has not been able to turn that footprint into real AI momentum. Plus its own models, they haven't broken out and it's had to watch Google TPUs, not Tranium, Amazon's own custom AI chips, TPUs become the chips with real industry momentum. And the contrast at the top makes that gap even clearer. Sergey Brin, he's back at Google, the co-founder of Google, he's back there reviving its AI push. Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, he's still executive chair at Amazon, but he is also co-founding a startup on the side, a signal maybe that some of the most ambitious frontier work is happening outside of the company that he founded. For investors, the question is whether Amazon can finally turn its consumer footprint into real AI leverage and add a second leg to its narrative beyond AWS. Now, so far this year, Google has captured the AI premium. We know that. Alphabet shares, new comeback kid, they're up nearly 70% this year versus less than 6% for Amazon, which is also the worst performing of the Mag 7 basket this year. And as we've seen, guys, AI narratives, they move fast. But Alexa Plus, it's still only in early access. I have devices, Echo devices myself through my own home. My kids, they're getting used to chatbot level answers, so they keep asking Alexa questions. But it can't handle them yet. So they're going to be the real testers of the Alexa Plus. I love that. The kids are outsmarting Alexa. So what about what about what are we calling it? AI commerce, agentic commerce, which is which is starting to really take shape. And Michael Lasser, a retail analyst, is telling us next year by this time, that's what the whole holiday shopping season is going to be about. Where does Amazon play there? Right. And this this is something that Amazon sort of been ahead. This is their whole proposition to have devices throughout the house. It's supposed to make it easier for consumers even before the AI era in chat GPT. Even before then, it's supposed to make consumers comfortable with talking to a device and having the device order them goods on their behalf. I mean, that hasn't worked. Very few people actually use their Echo devices to order things. I think probably mistakes are more common, at least in my household. But with Alexa Plus, this is supposed to be more agentic, more intuitive. Early reviews. I haven't got my hands on it myself, though. I've asked for it. The early reviews say that it's good in terms of the chat bot, but can actually carry through tests. That's going to be the real sort of test. How does it order things on your behalf? Maybe household items. Amazon has been working on this. But I mean, with so much buzz and chatter around agents hasn't really, you know, had real use real world use cases, especially for consumers. We may hear more from AWS reInvent, though. That's one to have on the radar for sure. Okay, Deirdre, thank you.

Four people have been arrested in California - charged with plotting a series of bombing attacks on multiple targets on New Year's Eve.

California

FBI arrests four over alleged New Year’s Eve bomb plot in California

Police in Rhode Island are searching for a new person of interest following Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University. Investigators say the case remains active as authorities work to determine a motive.

Providence

New person of interest sought in Brown University shooting

The son of filmmaker Rob Reiner was arrested on homicide charges after the director of beloved movies like "When Harry Met Sally ..." and his wife were found dead in their Los Angeles home, a police official said on Monday.

Los Angeles

Rob Reiner's son arrested after director and wife found dead

A jury found Brian Walshe guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife Ana on New Year's Day in 2023 in their Massachusetts home. Legal analyst Jennifer Roman joins with more details.

Boston

Brian Walshe found guilty of first-degree murder in wife's death

Hong Kong's High Court on Monday (December 15) found pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and to publish seditious material under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.

Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong court finds Jimmy Lai guilty in landmark security trial

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. negotiators are meeting in Berlin. As the U.S. grows increasingly pressed to end the four-year war, the peace negotiations continue, with territorial concessions to Russia remaining the "sticking point" for Ukraine.

Berlin

Ukraine Invasion

Zelenskyy offers to drop NATO bid for security guarantees

Police have released a person of interest who was detained in a shooting at Brown University. Two students were killed and at least nine others were injured in the Saturday attack. Tom Hanson spoke with students about the shooting.

Police release person of interest in shooting at Brown University

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy proposed abandoning NATO ambitions in exchange for Western security guarantees during peace talks in Berlin. The move marks a major shift as Kyiv seeks to end the war with Russia without ceding territory.

Ukraine offers to drop NATO bid at Berlin peace talks

Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead Sunday in their Los Angeles home, sources told CBS News, in what police called an apparent homicide. Rob Reiner was 78 and Michele Reiner was 68.

Brentwood

Director Rob Reiner and his wife found dead in their L.A. home

Far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast wins Chile's presidential run-off, after defeating his leftist opponent.

Santiago

Far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast wins Chile’s presidential election

The person of interest authorities took into custody in connection with the shooting at Brown University has been identified as Benjamin Erickson. He's a 24 year old, originally from Wisconsin.

Person of interest identified in Brown University shooting

Two alleged gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish celebration in Sydney's Bondi Beach were a father and son, police said on Monday, as Australia mourned victims of its worst gun violence in almost 30 years. This video contains graphic images.

Bondi Beach

Father and son behind Bondi mass shooting, Australian police say

Israel has described a deadly mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach as an attack on Jews, after gunmen opened fire during a Jewish holiday event, killing at least 11 people.

Council of the City of Sydney

Israel calls Bondi shooting attack on Jews, urges action on antisemitism

Two gunmen attacked a Hannukah celebration on a Sydney beach Sunday, killing at least 11 people in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitism and terrorism.

Gunmen kill several at Jewish gathering in Sydney's Bondi Beach

Providence police have detained a "person of interest" in connection with the Brown University shooting that left two students dead and another nine people wounded, as the Ivy League school said it had lifted a shelter-in-place order for its campus in Rhode Island.

Police hold person of interest after Brown University shooting

Belarus has freed more than 120 political prisoners in a major thaw in relations with the United States. The releases came in return for Washington lifting sanctions on potash, a key source of revenue for Belarus.

Minsk

Belarus releases 123 prisoners as U.S. lifts sanctions

Washington was still under a state of emergency on Saturday after torrential rains swamped communities. Plus, snow and dangerous cold are falling on some in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Nicole Valdes has more from Washington state.

Deming

Washington under state emergency as rains ease

China's plans for a massive new embassy in the British capital were delayed until January. Construction plans have proven controversial, with some raising espionage concerns. Ramy Inocencio has more from London.

London

Controversial Chinese embassy construction in London delayed

A United Airlines jetliner lost one of its engines during liftoff from Washington's Dulles Airport bound for Tokyo.

Tokyo

United Airlines flight loses engine during liftoff, sparks brush fire

Thailand says there is no ceasefire with Cambodia, and its military will continue fighting until it faces no further threat. That's despite the US president's earlier announcement that both sides had agreed to stop their attacks. Villages along the border are largely empty, except for a handful of volunteer security guards.

Phnom Penh

Fighting continues along Thai-Cambodia border

U.S President Donald Trump has threatened potential land strikes on Venezuela to target an illegal narcotics trade. Trump says the drugs are arriving on U.S shores and that President Nicolas Maduro is behind it. Maduro has denied the claim.

Caracas

Washington considers Venezuela land assault

King Charles III, who shared his cancer diagnosis with the world in February 2024, announced Friday that he would be scaling back his treatment after his doctors have seen success. The monarch also pushed for people to get early screenings, saying, "Early diagnosis quite simply saves lives."

King Charles to reduce cancer treatments

Belarus has freed more than 100 political prisoners, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in exchange for sanction relief on Belarusian potash, a U.S. statement said on Saturday.

Belarus releases political prisoners as U.S. lifts some sanctions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he visited troops fending off Russian advances near the embattled city of Kupiansk that Moscow claimed to have captured last month, which Kyiv denies.

Kup'yans'k

Zelenskyy visits troops as Ukraine claims gained ground near key city

In an audacious move, the EU has decided to indefinitely immobilize the Russian sovereign assets, pushing back against external pressure to release the funds before Moscow agrees to pay war reparations to Ukraine.

Brussels

EU locking in Russian assets for good

U.S. House Democrats released new images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that feature U.S. President Donald Trump and other high-profile people previously linked to Epstein.

Washington

House Democrats release more Epstein estate photos

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

As tensions rise with Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said land operations could start "pretty soon." Sources tell CBS News the administration is also planning more tanker seizures.

Amazon's Alexa+ AI push: Here's what to know

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Rise of AI