Source: Amazon Alexa
Amazon’s new Alexa+ talks and listens more like a real person, eliminating the robotic commands users needed before.
Prime members will receive the upgrade for free starting next month. Non-Prime customers must otherwise pay $19.99 monthly for access.
The artificial-intelligence(AI)-powered upgrade marks Amazon’s biggest push to compete with ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Built on Amazon’s Bedrock platform, Alexa+ uses multiple large language models. It includes Amazon’s Nova and those from partners like Anthropic.
“Today with generative AI and a completely re-architected Alexa, we’re moving the world from chatbots to something entirely new,” said Panos Panay, Amazon’s devices and services chief, during the product announcement Wednesday in New York City.
Alexa+ detects emotional tones and remembers personal details like dietary preferences. It can book restaurants through OpenTable, order groceries from Amazon Fresh, and purchase concert tickets on Ticketmaster. Alexa+ is also capable of typical LLM functions such as generating content and “AI art.”
Mara Segal, Amazon’s director of Alexa, said, “Alexa+ is personalized to you. ” She demonstrated how the AI can analyze documents and create reminders from their content. In one example, she asked Alexa to read a housing association document and explain its rules about solar panels.
Amazon has introduced Alexa.com for “long-form work” and revamping its mobile apps to support the upgraded assistant.
The assistant also works with Ring cameras to provide security summaries. “She’s your virtual security guard,” Panay explained during a demonstration in which Alexa+ accessed camera footage to confirm that someone had walked the dog.
Amazon has partnered with numerous service providers including Uber, OpenTable, Spotify, and Ticketmaster. The assistant can also generate songs through Suno AI and navigate to specific scenes in Prime Video content.
Bundling Alexa+ with Prime adds significant value to Amazon’s $14.99 monthly membership. This potentially incentivizes new subscriptions while rewarding existing customers with AI capabilities at no additional cost.
Early access begins in March for U.S. users with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices. Support for other Echo products will follow, though first-generation devices won’t receive the update. Users can sign up for early access at amazon.com/newalexa.
Technical issues reportedly delayed Alexa+’s launch for over a year. The Wall Street Journal previously reported internal skepticism about the project, with some employees leaving because they doubted the new version would succeed.
