Amazon's Alexa+ Reaches 100,000 Users: Progress and Challenges in AI Assistant Rollout

Amazon CEO says 100,000 users now have Alexa+ | TechCrunch

Amazon's upgraded digital assistant powered by generative AI, Alexa+, has rolled out to over 100,000 users, CEO Andy Jassy said on the company's earnings call Thursday. While that's a far cry from the 600 million Alexa devices out there, the company is making some progress on the rollout of Alexa+, which was first unveiled in February. At the time, Amazon said that Alexa+ would roll out in waves over the coming months. Amazon's new digital assistant aims to let users talk with it in a more natural style, and eventually have agentic abilities that allow it to use third-party apps on a user's behalf. Alexa+ should be able to generate original responses on the fly, much like the voice modes in OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, rather than the predetermined responses of the old Alexa and Siri systems. However, as The Washington Post reported at launch, the Alexa+ that's rolling out today lacks some of the key features the company demoed in February. The report notes that, at launch, Alexa+ did not have the ability to use third party apps like GrubHub, generate a bedtime story for children, or brainstorm a gift idea. It's unclear when those features will make it into Alexa+. "We have a lot more functionality that we plan to add in coming months," Jassy said on the call. During his opening comments, Jassy claimed that Alexa+ is one of the first action-oriented AI agents for consumers. But he noted that this technology is still rather "primitive" and "inaccurate." Currently, most multi-step AI agents have a low accuracy rate, between 30% and 60%, the Amazon CEO said. Jassy set a goal for the company's web-browsing agent that powers Alexa+, Nova Act, to achieve 90% accuracy in this domain. Amazon's rollout of Alexa+ seems to be progressing faster than Apple's rollout of its new, LLM-powered Siri. When asked about the new Siri delays on Apple's Thursday earnings call, which occurred simultaneously wiith Amazon's, CEO Tim Cook said the company needed "more time to complete the work." Along the road to supercharge legacy digital assistants with generative AI, both Apple and Amazon have reportedly run into snags and delays. Some of the biggest hiccups are around getting LLMs to use tools and integrate with other systems. Doing so allows Alexa and Siri to complete practical tasks such as setting timers and reading texts, but implementing it has proven harder than expected.

Alexa+ has more than 100,000 very quiet users

The lucky few with access to the new AI Alexa appear to be keeping it to themselves. Amazon has begun what seems to be a very slow rollout for Alexa+, its new AI-enhanced version of Alexa. But if you're looking for hands-on impressions from everyday folks who've actually tried the new Alexa, they're curiously hard to find. During Amazon's earnings call late last week, CEO Andy Jassy told investors that "over 100,000" users are currently testing Alexa+, which Amazon unveiled more than two months ago during a splashy New York City press event. "People are really liking Alexa+ so far," Jassy reportedly said on the earnings call. A hundred thousand people may sound like a lot, but as AFTVnews points out, it's just a tiny fraction of Alexa's estimated 100 million-plus active user base, meaning the vast majority of Alexa users has yet to try Alexa+ out for themselves. Meanwhile, the lucky few who have kicked the tires on the new AI Alexa are generally keeping mum about it. There have been a few sightings here and there, including at least one screenshot on Reddit from a user claiming to be in the elite group of Alexa+ testers. But details have been hard to come by, and queries for reports about Alexa+ experiences have far outstripped any actual hands-on experiences. In any event, Amazon appears to be moving extremely slowly -- and carefully -- with its Alexa+ rollout. That's in contrast to the tone during February's Alexa+ event in New York, where Amazon seemed to be giving off "full steam ahead" vibes for the new AI Alexa. At the presentation, Amazon announced pricing for Alexa+-$19.99 a month, or free for Prime users -- along with word that a public preview for the new Alexa would begin in March. Amazon also trotted out confident demonstrations of Alexa's new tricks, including the ability to control smart devices with natural language queries as well as go shopping, book travel tickets, text contacts, suggest recipes, and more. To be fair, Amazon said that the initial public preview would only be for a small group, with Echo Show display owners getting first dibs. But given the bullish tone of Amazon's Alexa+ in February, it's surprising the preview rollout has been this slow. Then again, all the major tech players have been proceeding with caution when it comes to revamping their voice assistants with cutting-edge generative AI abilities. Apple, for example, has reportedly pushed back Siri's "conversational" AI makeover until 2027, while Google is taking baby steps toward replacing Google Assistant with Gemini. And let's not forget the new Alexa's initial reveal way back in September 2023, which was followed by months of silence and bad tidings. Maybe Amazon will surprise us again with a wider Alexa+ rollout in the very near future, but for now, Alexa's AI preview remains oddly quiet.

Alexa+ rollout hits major milestone, but Amazon warns the technology is currently still 'primitive'

Alexa+ is rolling out in waves, but is still missing some key features Like many other Big Tech firms, Amazon jumped on the artificial intelligence (AI) bandwagon by launching its own AI assistant named Alexa+ in February. Now, the company has announced that the tool has been rolled out to 100,000 users. Right now, Alexa+ focuses on providing a conversational experience with an AI chatbot, although Amazon aims to imbue it with "agentic" abilities in the future. That would enable it to work as an agent on your behalf, interacting with third-party apps in order to carry out the tasks you ask of it. That little tidbit came from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy during the company's recent earnings call. There, Jassy explained that "Our intention is for agents to perform wide-ranging complex, multi-step tasks," and that "there haven't been action-oriented agents like this until Alexa+." Yet the most recent update to Alexa+ is missing some of the key features that Amazon demonstrated in February, as pointed out by The Washington Post. It wouldn't be the first AI to arrive without promised abilities - Apple's AI-powered Siri has faced numerous delays and disruptions - and it shows how difficult it can be to pull ahead in the ongoing AI arms race. Even Jassy admitted that Alexa+ was facing challenges. In general, agentic AI tools are still "primitive," the Amazon CEO noted, with Amazon's own Nova Act AI model aiming to improve their accuracy from a mere 30% to 60%. Eventually, the goal is to achieve over 90% accuracy, but clearly Alexa+ isn't there yet. Amazon has previously stated that it aims to launch Alexa+ in waves, so we should expect to see availability increase in the US over the coming months. There's no news about an international rollout yet. Of those users who have tried it out so far, few have shared their thoughts or given insights into how well it works. That changed recently, though, when user Pretty2be took to Reddit to answer questions on the AI chatbot. During the session, Pretty2be stated that Alexa+ is good at interpreting natural speech and is able to avoid interrupting you. Other positive feedback included its speech synthesis capabilities, although the user criticized its tendency to push you towards Amazon Music, even when you try to use Spotify. We don't know when Alexa+ will roll out to more users, but it's clear that there's still work to be done, judging by both Pretty2be's feedback and Amazon CEO Jassy's comments. Hopefully the missing features will arrive before the next 100,000 users sign up.

Amazon Begins Rolling Out Enhanced AI-Powered Alexa+ Assistant - Decrypt

The service will be free for Amazon Prime members; non-Prime users can access it with a $19.99 monthly subscription. Amazon has begun rolling out Alexa+, its new generative AI-powered assistant, to more than 100,000 early users in a limited preview, months after the company originally scheduled the release for last October. The retail giant first announced plans for an upgraded, generative AI-powered Alexa during its annual fall hardware event in September 2023, positioning the assistant as a more conversational, context-aware evolution of the original Alexa. Last year, Amazon partnered with Claude AI developer Anthropic to help power the new version of Alexa, after Amazon's proprietary AI fell short of expectations. As part of the early access phase, U.S. customers who own an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21 device will be the first to receive Alexa+. Customers with other compatible Echo devices will be notified via email and on-device alerts once the enhanced assistant becomes available to them. "We will expand early access to more Echo customers over time," Amazon wrote. "Once you have access and opt-in, Alexa+ will start working across all your compatible Echo devices, Fire TV, and Fire tablets, on your web browser and the Alexa app as they become available in early access." Some first-generation Alexa devices, including the first-generation Echo, Echo Show, and Echo Dots, are incompatible with the upgrade. Alexa+ users can start a conversation on one device and continue it on another, and interact with the assistant through Echo devices or browsers. However, according to a report by the Washington Post, several features, including ordering from Grubhub, brainstorming gift ideas, or generating stories for children, were pushed back because they "don't yet meet Amazon's standards for public release." The service will be free for Amazon Prime members; non-Prime users can access it with a $19.99 monthly subscription. Amazon said Alexa+ includes several safety features to address privacy concerns. These include indicator lights and sounds to signal when the assistant is active, physical controls to disable microphones and cameras on Echo devices, and options to delete stored voice recordings and typed interactions. Alexa+ can read and summarize uploaded documents. However, according to the above report, users are not yet able to delete documents they upload to Alexa+.

Alexa+ reaches 100,000 users but misses key features

Amazon's Alexa+, a digital assistant powered by generative AI, has been rolled out to over 100,000 users, CEO Andy Jassy revealed during the company's earnings call on Thursday. This upgrade aims to enable users to interact with Alexa in a more natural style and potentially allow it to use third-party apps on their behalf. The rollout, which began in February, is part of Amazon's effort to enhance Alexa's capabilities beyond its current predetermined responses. Alexa+ is designed to generate original responses, similar to those found in OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. However, the current version lacks some features initially demoed, such as integrating with third-party apps like GrubHub, creating bedtime stories, or suggesting gift ideas. Jassy acknowledged that the technology is still "primitive" and "inaccurate," with most multi-step AI agents having an accuracy rate between 30% and 60%. He set a goal for Nova Act, the web-browsing agent powering Alexa+, to achieve 90% accuracy. "We have a lot more functionality that we plan to add in coming months," Jassy said, indicating ongoing development. If you have an Alexa change these 5 settings ASAP The challenges faced by Amazon are not unique; Apple is also experiencing delays with its LLM-powered Siri. During Apple's earnings call, which occurred simultaneously with Amazon's, CEO Tim Cook attributed the delay to the need for "more time to complete the work." Both companies are reportedly struggling with integrating large language models (LLMs) with other systems to enable practical tasks. Amazon's progress with Alexa+ is notable, especially when compared to Apple's rollout of its new Siri features. While the number of Alexa+ users is significantly lower than the 600 million Alexa devices in use, the company is making headway in its deployment.

Amazon's Alexa+ Voice Assistant Draws 100,000 Users as Rollout Continues | PYMNTS.com

Alexa+ will be made available to more users in the coming months, Jassy said. It is now starting to roll out in the U.S. and will be expanded to other countries later this year. The new version of the voice assistant is being made available on an Early Access basis, beginning with customers who sign up to be notified and own an Echo Show 8, 10, 15 or 21 and then expanding to more Echo customers over time, according to the Amazon website. "People are really liking Alexa+ thus far," Jassy said during the call. The new voice assistant is free to Prime members and available for $19.99 per month to non-members, Jassy said. He added that Amazon has more than half a billion devices in people's homes, offices and cars to which Alexa+ will be able to be delivered. Jassy said during that call that the new version is "meaningfully smarter and more capable than its prior self, can both answer virtually any questions and take actions." He added that users no longer have to say "Alexa" before requesting every action; instead, they only have to say it once and can then have an ongoing conversation with the voice assistant. "And then I think it's just experience in trying thing," Jassy said during the call. "So, you can do things like: you have guests coming over on a Saturday night for dinner and you can say, 'Alexa, please open the shades, put the lights on in the driveway and on the porch, increase the temperature five degrees and pick music that would be great for dinner that's mellow, and she just does it. When you have those types of experiences, it makes you want to do more of it." When Amazon introduced Alexa+ in February, the company said the new voice assistant would start rolling out in the next few weeks in the U.S. and works with nearly all existing Alexa devices. Alexa+ had been plagued by delays, reportedly due to it hallucinating or giving wrong information on test questions. The unveiling came about a year and a half after Amazon first announced it was going to infuse AI into Alexa following the release of ChatGPT. The PYMNTS Intelligence report "How Consumers Want to Live in the Voice Economy" found that 54% of consumers said they would prefer voice technology in the future because it is faster than typing or using a touchscreen.