Amazon Considers Integrating Ads into Alexa+ Conversations, Sparking Privacy and User Experience Concerns

Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations

Since 2023, Amazon has been framing Alexa+ as a monumental evolution of Amazon's voice assistant that will make it more conversational, capable, and, for Amazon, lucrative. Amazon said in a press release on Thursday that it has given early access of the generative AI voice assistant to "millions" of people. The product isn't publicly available yet, and some advertised features are still unavailable, but Amazon's CEO is already considering loading the chatbot up with ads. During an investors call yesterday, as reported by TechCrunch, Andy Jassy noted that Alexa+ started rolling out as early access to some customers in the US and that a broader rollout, including internationally, should happen later this year. An analyst on the call asked Amazon executives about Alexa+'s potential for "increasing engagement" long term. Per a transcript of the call, Jassy responded by saying, in part: I think over time, there will be opportunities, you know, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery and also as a lever to drive revenue. Like other voice assistants, Alexa has yet to monetize users. Amazon is hoping to finally make money off the service through Alexa+, which is eventually slated to play a bigger role in e-commerce, including by booking restaurant reservations, keeping track of and ordering groceries, and recommending streaming content based on stated interests. But with Alexa reportedly costing Amazon $25 billion across four years, Amazon is eyeing additional routes to profitability. Echo Show devices already show ads, and Echo speaker users may hear ads when listening to music. Advertisers have shown interest in advertising with Alexa+, but the inclusion of ads in a new offering like Alexa+ could drive people away. As Joel Daly, co-founder of marketing agency Artemis Ward, told Digiday in March: They [Amazon] recognize the risk of alienating audiences who have yet to see the full potential of voice assistants, which have yet to be fully realized, not to mention privacy concerns. The combination of tailored advertising with the perceived invasiveness of always-listening voice devices can discourage adoption. Even though Jassy framed Alexa+ ads as a way to help users find stuff they're interested in, ads seem more aimed at solving Amazon's financial problems with voice assistants than helping customers find relevant information quickly and reliably. Notably, though, Amazon isn't the only chatbot maker exploring ads: Google's AI Overview, for example, already has ads, and Google has been testing ads in AI Mode. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hasn't ruled out ads in ChatGPT. But Alexa+ is still in the early stages, meaning that Amazon's bigger priorities are catching up with the competition, rolling out more of Alexa+'s promised features, and making the chatbot publicly available. Beyond ads, Jassy is mulling additional ways to prevent Alexa+ from being the financial failure of its predecessor. The service is still only available as early access to Echo Show 8, 15, and 21 owners in the US, but once it reaches public availability, it will be free for Amazon Prime subscribers (Prime starts at $15 per month) or $20/month if you don't have Prime. During yesterday's earnings call, Jassy pointed to the potential for charging extra for Alexa+ features as they are made available. "It's still very early days, but we're very encouraged by the experience we're providing, and you can bet we're gonna be iterating on it constantly," he said.

Amazon CEO wants to put ads in your Alexa+ conversations | TechCrunch

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sees an opportunity to deliver ads to users during their conversations with the company's AI-powered digital assistant, Alexa+, he said during Amazon's second-quarter earnings call Thursday. "People are excited about the devices that they can buy from us that has Alexa+ enabled in it. People do a lot of shopping [with Alexa+], it's a delightful shopping experience that will keep getting better," said Jassy on the call with investors and Wall Street analysts. "I think over time, there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue." Amazon says it has rolled out Alexa+ to millions of customers, part of an effort to make its legacy digital assistant capable of agentic behaviors and more natural to talk to. Alexa+ is Amazon's answer to generative AI voice assistants from OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity that have made legacy systems feel outdated. However, the business models behind generative AI products remains unclear. Amazon has made Alexa+ free for Prime customers (which pay $14.99 a month), and added a $20-a-month subscription tier for Alexa+ on its own. Jassy suggested on Thursday that Alexa+ could eventually include subscription tiers beyond what's available today -- perhaps an ad-free tier. Up until now, ads have only appeared in Alexa in limited ways. Users may occasionally see a visual ad on Amazon's smart display device, the Echo show, or hear a pre-recorded ad in between songs on one of Alexa's smart speakers. But Jassy's description of an AI generated ad that Alexa+ delivers in a multi-step conversation, which could help users find new products, is unchartered territory for Amazon and the broader tech industry. Marketers have expressed interest in advertising in AI chatbots, and specifically Alexa+, but exactly how remains unclear. Amazon's competitors in the AI space seem to think advertising is a promising business model for generative AI, too. Google is exploring how to infuse ads into its AI-powered search experience, AI mode. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he's open to a "tasteful" form of advertising in ChatGPT. Amazon is spending a fortune to catch up in the AI race. In the second quarter of 2025, Amazon's capital expenditures rose to $31.4 billion, up 90% from the same period last year. A large part of that increased spending is to develop Amazon's in-house AI chips, and build out data centers to support AI models. While the revenue of Amazon's cloud business, AWS, grew 18% in the second quarter, the company likely needs to generate new business to pay for these investments. Jassy is betting that users will talk to Alexa+ more than Alexa, which could drive more advertising and more shopping on Amazon.com. However, early reviews of Alexa+ have been mixed. Amazon has reportedly struggled to ship some of Alexa+'s more complicated features, and the rollout has been slower than many expected. There's a lot to figure out before Amazon puts ads in Alexa+. Like most AI models, Alexa+ is not immune to hallucinations. Before advertisers agree to make Alexa+ a spokesperson for their products, Amazon may have to come up with some ways to ensure that its AI will not offer false advertising for a product. Jassy seems enthusiastic about making advertising a larger part of Amazon business. Amazon's advertising revenue went up 22% in the second quarter, compared to the same period last year. Delivering ads in AI chatbot conversations may also raise privacy concerns. People tend to talk more with AI chatbots compared to deterministic assistants, like the traditional Alexa and Siri products. As a result, generative AI chatbots tend to collect more information on users. Some users might be unsettled by having that information sold to advertisers, and having ads appear in their natural language conversations with AI.

Amazon eyes ads and upcharges for Alexa Plus

In the week's least surprising news, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed that the company is exploring ways to bring ads to Alexa Plus, its new generative-AI-powered voice assistant. During a conference call following the company's second-quarter earnings report, Jassy said that "there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multiturn conversations [with Alexa Plus], to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue." Basically, people will talk more to Alexa, so there will be more ways to push ads at them. He also hinted that Alexa Plus, which is currently free for Prime members but will cost $19.99 a month without Prime, could one day cost more. "As we keep adding functionality [there] could be some sort of subscription element beyond what there is today," he said. Considering Amazon's Devices & Services division, which includes Alexa and Echo, has reportedly struggled to make money, Jassy is looking for ways to make its hot new thing, Alexa Plus, more profitable. Charging non-Prime members $20 a month may sound like one way. But who's going to pay $20 when you can spend $15 for Prime and get Alexa Plus, plus all the Prime benefits? Advertising is the obvious path, as ads already exist on Amazon Echo devices with regular Alexa on board. These include full-screen ones on Echo Show smart displays that appear randomly and can't be opted out of. Another way Alexa pushes ads is with its "By the way" feature, which tacks on suggestions to a response after you've asked something. These often involve encouraging you to buy something from Amazon. When Amazon announced Alexa Plus back in February, I asked head of Devices & Services Panos Panay if "By the way" and full-screen ads would stick around. "I don't think a lot of that changes," he said, adding that advertising models on devices like Echos are designed to keep the costs down for customers. I've been testing Alexa Plus for a few weeks now and haven't seen any ads or received any "By the ways." But the assistant is still in an Early Access beta phase, and it sounds like the plan is that this new Alexa will come with new ways to push ads. But I really wish it wasn't. In terms of what that might look like, back in 2022, Amazon said it had developed a Customers Ask Alexa feature that would allow brands to submit their own answers to questions people asked Alexa, such as "How can I remove pet hair from my carpet?" Alexa Plus, with its chattier, more helpful persona, would be an ideal platform to deliver this type of sponsored result. But that won't cut it if Amazon is going to succeed in making Alexa Plus the "World's best personal assistant," which is Jassy's stated goal. Why would anyone choose to use an assistant that is getting paid to push specific products? One of those higher tiers for Alexa Plus Jassy hinted at could be an ad-free version, as TechCrunch first speculated. Amazon did exactly this with Prime Video, creating a higher price, ad-free tier and booting everyone else to ads. But either way, Alexa will really have to prove its worth if we're going to pay for its new capabilities. Based on my initial testing of Alexa Plus, it's not at a point where I can delegate my daily tasks and chores to it, as I would do if I could ever afford to hire a real personal assistant. But the potential is there. There's no doubt that generative AI is going to transform how we use digital voice assistants, and Amazon has a head start. It has actually launched its revamped assistant with more conversational natural language abilities, something neither Apple nor Google seems close to doing. Alexa Plus is also one of the few generative AI-powered services that can take actions in real life. Whether people will be willing to pay for AI features is still being tested. OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and others currently charge for different tiers of access to their more advanced AI-chatbot tools. As an Alexa user for many years, I'd consider paying for a really good Alexa that does what I ask without fail, has all the features Amazon has promised are coming, and never shows me an ad. However, what I know for sure that I don't want, is a chattier AI pushing products at me in my home.

Amazon Could Put Ads in Your Alexa+ Conversations

Ads could soon be coming to your conversations with Amazon's freshly revamped digital assistant, Alexa+. Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy said in a recent earnings call, spotted by TechCrunch, that "there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue." On the call with investors, Jassy teased adding "some sort of subscription element beyond what there is today" as it adds new features to Alexa+. TechCrunch posited this could mean we'll see an ad-free tier if ads are eventually introduced, but this is merely speculation at this point. It's unclear how consumers will react to the move, particularly as Alexa+ isn't free to begin with. It costs users in the US $19.99 per month unless they are already forking out $14.99 for Amazon Prime, which includes access to the service. After a development process allegedly hampered by a myriad of technical issues, Alexa+ started rolling out to users' Amazon Echo devices earlier this year, albeit with a limited feature set compared to Amazon's final vision for the product. At the official launch event, the tech giant promised Alexa+ would offer a less robotic, more human-like experience compared to its predecessor, which launched over a decade ago. Amazon execs promised agentic AI functionality -- for example, booking flights or concert tickets without much human intervention. The CEO's statements shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who has been following Amazon's business particularly closely. Despite there being roughly 500 million Alexa-enabled devices, its Devices & Services unit has been a huge money sink for the company. It lost $25 billion between 2017 and 2021, according to a Wall Street Journal report, meaning there's plenty of incentive to drum up new revenue streams. It's not just Amazon -- advertising could one day be coming to the world of mainstream AI assistants whether consumers like it or not. Microsoft is currently trying to attract more advertisers to its Copilot platform. Meanwhile, in May, Google announced it has already started testing ads within its AI responses, specifically in AI Mode on Google Search, a new product built into its search page. And in March, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he is "not opposed" to ads in the company's tools, but only if there was "good reason" and it could be done "tastefully."

Amazon already plans to put ads in Alexa+ conversations - 9to5Mac

Which would you rather have: an AI-powered Alexa+ that advertises to you, or an AI-lacking Siri that doesn't? Hopefully Apple can sort out its AI struggles and users never have to face that decision. But if you're an Alexa+ user, it sounds like more ads are definitely in your future. Amazon reported its quarterly earnings this week, and the AI-powered Alexa+ unsurprisingly came up. What perhaps was a surprise is how fast Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was to tout the upgraded assistant's potential as a tool for advertising. Maxwell Zeff writes at TechCrunch: "People are excited about the devices that they can buy from us that has Alexa+ enabled in it. People do a lot of shopping [with Alexa+]; it's a delightful shopping experience that will keep getting better," said Jassy on the call with investors and Wall Street analysts. "I think over time, there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue." Speaking to investors, the potential for additional revenue will always be a winning topic. But Amazon has staked a lot on Alexa+ being a hit, and in-conversation ads probably isn't the best tactic to spur user adoption. Apple certainly has its own issues in the realm of advertising, with the recent F1 notification from the Wallet app being one of the most controversial. The day that Siri starts promoting Apple's latest movies, though, will be a sad one indeed. What do you think of Amazon's plans to push ads through Alexa+ conversations? Let us know in the comments.

Amazon is toying around with putting ads in Alexa+

It's the end of another quarter, which means it's time for yet another earnings call with concerning ideas for generating more revenue. This time around, it's Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who told shareholders on Thursday that there's "significant financial opportunity" in delivering ads through Alexa+, the company's new AI-powered voice assistant. "I think over time, there will be opportunities, you know, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations to have advertising play a role -- to help people find discovery and also as a lever to drive revenue," Jassy said, per the investor call transcript. Since launching earlier this year, Alexa+ has reportedly reached millions of users. Unlike the original Alexa, which mostly turns off lights and sets timers, Alexa+ is designed to be more conversational, context-aware, and AI-driven. It can help you plan your date night, entertain your kids, and even dabble in basic image and video generation -- all under the banner of your $14.99/month Prime subscription. But so far, Amazon Alexa has been an ad-free experience. It's also more than 10 years old, and it doesn't make money; thus, it's been deemed a "colossal failure" by those within the company. Of course, Amazon isn't alone in trying to figure out how to make AI pay for itself. Both Google and OpenAI have explored ad integration in their AI products as a way to generate revenue. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in particular, has made a notable pivot: once firmly against advertising in his chatbot, he's since reversed course, possibly opening the door for ads in future versions of ChatGPT. Whatever the motivation, injecting ads into Alexa+ would mark a major shift in both user experience and Amazon's strategy, especially given the assistant's long history of being expensive to maintain and hard to monetize. Ad-supported Alexa+ could be Amazon's attempt to finally turn its once-money-burning smart assistant into a revenue machine, without hiking the subscription fee (at least for now). Alexa+ is still new, and what an ad-supported experience would actually look like remains unclear. According to Jassy, the idea is to frame ads as helpful, something to assist customers in discovering products they might be interested in buying.

If Amazon wants to kill Alexa+ stone dead, its CEO's latest advertisement idea is probably the way to do it

Amazon's CEO teased advertisements might be coming to Alexa+Other Alexa+ subscription tiers might be on the way, tooNo release date yet, but it sounds like a matter of when, not if Amazon's Alexa+ may have only been around for a short time, and while that would usually mean it's in the rapid user-growth stage, it sounds like Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is already planning its demise: stuffing its conversations with ads. Speaking at Amazon's most recent investor call, Jassy explained that "People do a lot of shopping [with Alexa+]" Adding "I think over time, there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue." Basically, if you ask Alexa+ for shopping recommendations, some of its responses might eventually be sponsored. Jassy went on to discuss the possibility of different payment tiers beyond the existing $19.99 a month model - it is already free with Amazon Prime - suggesting we may see an ad-supported and ad-free tier, but the idea sounds yucky. Right? Because if AI's responses can be paid for, why would you trust anything it says ever again? AI has sold itself as an unbiased guru that can answer many of life's questions, but it's increasingly clear how untrue that is. After the bot couldn't stop correcting its master, X AI's Grok received some major changes leading to very public (and hate-ridden) crashouts, and now it seemingly serves as a mouthpiece for Elon Musk rather than any semblance of a reliable third-party. The Chinese-run DeepSeek bot has been found to tow the Chinese Communist Party line on topics like Taiwan independence and Tiananmen Square, and I'm sure there are plenty of more subtle biases built into every AI chatbot out there. Advertisements would bring in another layer of mistrust, especially depending on how they're implemented. In Alexa's case, if it recommends three products and a fourth clearly marked as sponsored, why would you be incentivized to buy it? As you know, Alexa is suggesting it only because it was paid to do so. You're much better off picking one of the other genuine recommendations. Alternatively, if it instead prewarns you that some answers are sponsored, but doesn't then label which answers were bought, you wouldn't be able to trust that any of its shopping suggestions aren't simply being paid for. But ads were inevitable in many ways. The race to the bottom on subscriptions means that many people don't want to pay much for AI tools. Simultaneously, investors in their quarterly calls to big tech companies are starting to ask how the billions being invested in AI might eventually be turned into profit. The now-not-so-quiet part that Amazon's CEO just said aloud is advertising. People can have a cheap AI service, and the company can get paid. I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem any different from the systems we already have through sponsored entries in Google or on Amazon's store. I was promised a Jarvis-like AI agent, not the same as what we have, but in a different wrapper. Perhaps I'm getting tired of the perpetual AI hype, but with sponsored conversations looking like they're headed our way, we might start to see some AI systems get ruined and die off - I can only hope.

Amazon CEO considers ads in Alexa+ chats

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy indicated the company's interest in incorporating advertising within Alexa+ conversations during the second-quarter earnings call. Jassy believes these ads could facilitate product discovery for users and function as a revenue stream for Amazon. Jassy stated, "People are excited about the devices that they can buy from us that has Alexa+ enabled in it. People do a lot of shopping [with Alexa+]; it's a delightful shopping experience that will keep getting better." He further suggested, "I think over time, there will be opportunities, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations, to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery, and also as a lever to drive revenue." Amazon has introduced Alexa+ to millions of customers, positioning it as an upgrade to the original Alexa, designed to exhibit agentic behaviors and facilitate more natural interactions. This launch is presented as Amazon's response to the emergence of generative AI voice assistants from competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity, which have rendered traditional systems less competitive. Currently, Alexa+ is available without cost to Amazon Prime subscribers, who pay $14.99 monthly. A standalone subscription option is priced at $20 per month. Jassy proposed the potential creation of additional subscription tiers for Alexa+, potentially including an ad-free option. Existing advertising within Alexa has been limited. It primarily consists of visual advertisements displayed on Echo Show devices and pre-recorded audio ads interspersed between music playback on smart speakers. Jassy's concept of AI-generated advertisements integrated into multi-step conversations represents a new avenue for Amazon and the broader technology sector. Interest among marketers in advertising within AI chatbots, particularly Alexa+, exists, though the specific implementation strategies remain undefined. Other companies in the AI field also recognize the potential of advertising as a business model for generative AI. Google is currently investigating methods to integrate ads into its AI-powered search experience called AI mode. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has expressed openness to incorporating "tasteful" advertising within ChatGPT. Amazon's investment in AI development is substantial. During the second quarter of 2025, the company's capital expenditures increased by 90% to $31.4 billion compared to the same period the previous year. A significant portion of these expenditures is allocated to developing proprietary AI chips and constructing data centers to support AI models. While Amazon's cloud business, AWS, experienced an 18% revenue increase during the second quarter, the company is seeking new revenue streams to offset these investments. Jassy anticipates increased user engagement with Alexa+ compared to the original Alexa, which he expects to drive advertising revenue and sales on Amazon.com. Early feedback suggests mixed reception to Alexa+, with reports indicating challenges in delivering certain complex features and a slower-than-anticipated rollout. Amazon faces challenges before integrating ads into Alexa+. Similar to many AI models, Alexa+ is susceptible to hallucinations, which are instances where the AI generates inaccurate or misleading information. Amazon may need to implement safeguards to prevent its AI from providing false advertising for products before advertisers are willing to use Alexa+ to promote their offerings. Jassy appears optimistic about the potential growth of advertising within Amazon's overall business strategy. Amazon's advertising revenue increased by 22% during the second quarter, compared to the same period last year. Integrating advertisements into AI chatbot conversations could raise privacy considerations. Generative AI chatbots have the potential to collect more data from users because people tend to engage in longer, more conversational exchanges with these systems compared to traditional assistants like Alexa and Siri. Concerns may arise among certain users regarding the potential sale of their data to advertisers and the appearance of ads within their natural language interactions with AI.

Your Conversations With AI-Powered Alexa+ Could Soon Feature Ads

Alexa+ comes with agentic capabilities and can make reservations online Amazon CEO Andy Jassy shared plans to introduce advertisements when users chat with Alexa+. The Seattle-based tech giant unveiled the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered version of Alexa voice assistant in February, which comes with several new capabilities. Currently available in the US, the company claims that Alexa+ has been rolled out to and is being used by millions of users. Jassy now wants to place ads between these conversations, which will mark a first for the company. The Amazon CEO's statements were made during the company's second-quarter earnings call with stakeholders on Thursday. Highlighting the company's achievements in the previous quarter ending in June, Jassy said that the current version of the Alexa experience brings more intelligence in the way it processes and handles tasks, based on transcriptions from Seeking Alpha. Its agentic capabilities were also mentioned. Jassy also claimed that currently, millions of users in the US have access to Alexa+, and the rest of the country will get it in the next couple of months. Later this year, the company plans to begin the voice assistant's international rollout. He also claimed that Alexa+ was being used more expansively and more frequently compared to its predecessor. Building on this, Jassy told the stakeholders, "I think over time, there will be opportunities as people are engaging more in multiturn conversations to have advertising play a role to help people find discovery and also as a lever to drive revenue." Over time, the Amazon CEO also sees a potential for a "subscription element" with the voice assistant. However, he adds that this will not happen in the near future. Notably, currently Alexa+ is available for free to Prime members, while non-Prime members are required to pay $9.99 (roughly Rs. 875) a month for the service. Alexa+, as explained by Amazon at launch, can answer user queries, perform smart home appliance-based tasks, and have conversations with users. It can also find and play music from streaming services such as Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music based on vague descriptions, track when tickets for an event go on sale, and perform agentic functions such as ordering groceries, booking appointments, and making reservations.