Amazon Unveils Alexa+: A Generative AI-Powered Assistant with Enhanced Capabilities

Amazon just gave Alexa its biggest upgrade since debut - and you'll want an Echo Show for it

Amazon's Devices and Services event showcased the future of Alexa, emphasizing how its advanced AI will enhance and power the company's top products. Amazon's early-year Devices and Services event took place just days ago, and the company made it clear that AI will continue to be at the center of its hardware universe. Driving the buzzword of the century is Alexa, arguably the most popular virtual assistant in the world. SVP of Devices and Services Panos Panay suggested that millions of new customers use it every day during the event. Also: Everything you need to know about Alexa+, Amazon's new generative AI assistant And that's likely true: Alexa is at the core of Amazon's most prominent hardware products, including Echo speakers and Fire TVs. Today, the company showcased what's next for its virtual assistant, now named Alexa+, as it looks to compete with the likes of Google, OpenAI, and others. The new Alexa will be "something that understands you, that can actually take action," Panay teased, and it will work with tens of thousands of services from Amazon partners. Here's a rundown of the best new features coming with Alexa+ and how much it will cost. Powered by LLMs, Alexa+ can now process visual information via your device's cameras to understand and answer questions. In one instance, Alexa was asked to describe the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm at the event by leveraging the Echo Show 15's front-facing camera. While its responses were two to three sentences long, they were descriptive and dictated in a fairly approachable tone. The agentic capabilities of Alexa+ extend to browsing, with the ability to navigate the internet via Alexa.com and complete tasks for you on Amazon-partnered websites. For example, Alexa was asked to book a professional repairman for a damaged appliance. It then searched for a nearby repair service and booked an appointment via Thumbtack. Also: Amazon's new Alexa+ companion devices coming this fall In another demo, a presenter worked with Alexa to build out a shopping list, suggesting items to add or remove throughout the conversation. Surprisingly, the feature supported shopping partners beyond Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. As Alexa responds, a flowing blue animation appears on the bottom of the device screen. This new change reflects Amazon's more expressive UI. Besides responding more naturally, with sprinkles of humor, another big unveiling showed how Alexa can now fulfill tasks throughout your daily apps and services, including your calendar and emails. It can book a dinner for you and send invitations for that to your closest contacts, too. We've seen similar agentic capabilities with Google's Gemini. In a demo, the virtual assistant was asked to recommend local pizzerias, to which it pulled top-rated storefronts via Yelp. Another example included asking Alexa to remember things, such as "Mary likes Greek and Indian food and is vegetarian but doesn't like peanut butter." It did just that without a question. Amazon also unveiled a series of new widgets alongside its refreshed Echo Show home screen, including ones that surface recipes, recent apps, weather, shopping lists, and connected smart home devices. Also: 5 Amazon Alexa privacy settings you should change right away The adaptive display leverages the larger screen real estate to display relevant information depending on whether you're far away from the device or closer to it. For example, the Echo Show will display photos and personalized content from afar and switch to a more detailed layout when you approach it. For a music demo, Panay asked Alexa, "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings... it's like in a duet?" to which it answered, "Shallow with Lady Gaga from the movie *A Star Is Born*." More impressively, you can now dictate where music is playing from if you have multiple Alexa-enabled speakers in your house. Also: The best Alexa devices of 2025: Expert tested and recommended For example, you can ask Alexa to play music on the left or right, with the assumption that speakers are mounted in designated areas. We'll have to see exactly how reliable this is in real-world tests. And for Amazon's last trick, Panay asked Alexa to skip to the scene in the movie when "Shallow" is sung, and it did -- on the second try. Alexa now supports AI-powered video search, allowing it to process recordings by Ring cameras to answer questions. In a live demo, Panay asked the assistant whether anyone had taken out the dog yesterday or the day before, to which it sifted through past video libraries to determine the answer. "You can now share just about anything with Alexa," said Mara Segal, Director of Alexa. That includes dense legal documents, handwritten notes, school schedules, PDFs, and more, from which the assistant can process the content and answer related questions. Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responses In another example, a school schedule was uploaded, and Alexa was asked to add dates for soccer practices to the calendar and suggest snacks that could be brought to them. Amazon's focus on kids-centric services extends to Alexa+, which now includes the Explore and Stories features. In a demo, the assistant was asked to create a story about funny animals. It followed up with a story about "Benny the Bearded Dragon," accompanied by a series of AI-generated artwork. How much does Alexa+ cost? The upgraded Alexa service will cost $19.99 a month or be free if you're an Amazon Prime member. It will officially roll out over the next few weeks and "subsequently in waves in the coming months," according to Amazon. Amazon says that Alexa+ will be available on all Echo devices, including the Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, with the exception of certain older generation Echo devices like Echo Dot 1st Gen, Echo 1st Gen, Echo Plus 1st Gen, Echo Tap, Echo Show 1st Gen, Echo Show 2nd Gen, and Echo Spot 1st Gen, where you can continue to use the original Alexa. Also: Not all Echo devices will get Alexa+ initially - see if yours made the list According to its press release, "You'll also be able to try Alexa+ on your web browser, the Alexa app, compatible Fire TVs and Fire tablets. This experience is not currently supported on Alexa Built-in devices and Amazon Astro, however we look forward to expanding Alexa+ to additional devices in the future."

Everything you need to know about Alexa+, Amazon's new generative AI assistant

Amazon's new Alexa+ service is smarter, more natural sounding, and more capable than its current state. Amazon has been focused on bringing generative AI to Alexa for the past few years, hitting multiple delays in launching new features that the company first announced in September 2023. The delayed Alexa 2.0 was poised for a 2025 release, and Amazon held a late February event where it made big announcements for the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant. Amid rumors of Alexa 2.0 shortcomings, Amazon skipped its 2024 Devices and Services event, where the company typically announces new Alexa features and hardware devices. Instead, it unveiled Alexa+ last month, the voice assistant's generative AI features, and finally put an ETA on its launch. Also: 7 exciting AI features coming with Alexa+ (and what Amazon devices support it) "Up until a couple of years ago, it was pretty difficult to invent with AI, and that changed with the arrival of foundational models and generative AI. This made the technology much more accessible, so people can see the power and magic of what generative AI can do," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. The event, which took place on Feb. 26 in New York City, was Panos Panay's first since joining the Devices and Services division after his Microsoft exit. In addition to new Alexa features, Amazon also made other announcements. Giving Alexa the power of generative AI was already expected to be the star announcement from Amazon -- and it was. During the last Devices and Services event in 2023, Amazon announced a gen AI-powered 'Alexa+' or Alexa Plus and a new user interface coming to an Echo device near you, and the company is now making it more real than ever before. Panay likened the evolution of Alexa and its obstacle-ridden road toward generative AI to a symphony warming up before a concert and how the conductor raises the baton to transform "disconnected sounds into a masterpiece." Alexa+ will reply with a more natural cadence, handle multiple prompts in a session, and generate content instead of providing canned answers to questions. It will also feature greater customization power to remember user preferences (think like ChatGPT's Memory) for more productive user interactions, learning "the rhythm of your life," according to Panay. Also: Not all Echo devices will get Alexa+ initially - see if yours made the list Aside from all of this, Alexa+ has contextual awareness, so it can hold long conversations and remember what you asked before your last questions instead of giving canned responses from Alexa Answers contributors. As Amazon demoed, it can also read and process documents for you to answer questions, like school calendars or an HOA CC&R document. The new Alexa+ will begin rolling out next month to some users in an early access manner, with a gradual rollout after that. Amazon said little about the new Alexa after the 2023 event, with rumors suggesting that the company was repeatedly forced to delay its gen AI launch due to deficient performance. Thankfully, Amazon seems to have finally smoothed out its Alexa 2.0. While Alexa dominates the US market for virtual assistants, preferred by two-thirds of Americans, it has also recently fallen behind other assistants, including Google and, most recently, Siri. The release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in recent years triggered a tidal wave of generative AI that pushed other virtual assistants ashore. At the same time, Alexa appears to have sunk to the bottom of the ocean -- until now. Also: Here's how to use Alexa+ for free - especially if you're an Amazon Prime member The new breed of gen AI-powered virtual assistants -- ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot powered by OpenAI's technologies, Google Assistant-powered by Gemini, and Siri powered by Apple LLMs -- have surged ahead in the past two years. We can only wait to see how well the new Alexa+, powered by Amazon Bedrock models, including Nova and Anthropic, will perform in real-world scenarios. Amazon's Alexa+ will work behind a subscription service that will cost $20 monthly but will be free for Prime subscribers. A subscription-based system has been rumored for about a year, so this didn't come as a surprise, but the rumors said it was planned to cost between $5-$10 monthly, not $20. At this cost, Alexa+ is the same price as a ChatGPT Plus subscription. Also: The best AI chatbots The "Classic Alexa" will still be available for users who prefer not to pay the monthly fee, though it's not known how long Amazon plans to maintain the current version. Amazon also announced a new revamped platform for the Echo Show with the launch of Alexa+. The new look in the Echo Show interface seems like it will be available in the larger Echo Show displays for now. Alexa+ will also have integrations with your Ring subscriptions to provide a new experience on the Echo Show. Also: The best Alexa devices The redesigned Echo Show user interface features a sleeker layout for your favorite widgets and a cohesive look throughout the screen. Alexa+ is bringing adaptive display to the large Echo Show devices, the Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 21, to show a simplified view from afar that transitions to a customized screen when you approach the device.

Amazon just gave Alexa its biggest upgrade in a decade - and old Echo devices will support it

Amazon's Devices and Services event unveiled the next evolution of Alexa, highlighting how its advanced AI will enhance and drive the company's most popular products. Amazon's early-year Devices and Services event took place today, and the company made it clear that AI will continue to be at the center of its hardware universe. Driving the buzzword of the century is Alexa, arguably the most popular virtual assistant in the world. SVP of Devices and Services Panos Panay suggested that millions of new customers use it every day during the event. Also: Everything Amazon announced at its Devices and Services event today And that's likely true: Alexa is at the core of Amazon's most prominent hardware products, including Echo speakers and Fire TVs. Today, the company showcased what's next for its virtual assistant, now named Alexa+, as it looks to compete with the likes of Google, OpenAI, and others. The new Alexa will be "something that understands you, that can actually take action," Panay teased, and it will work with tens of thousands of services from Amazon partners. Here's a rundown of the best new features coming with Alexa+ and how much it will cost. Powered by LLMs, Alexa+ can now process visual information via your device's cameras to understand and answer questions. In one instance, Alexa was asked to describe the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm at the event by leveraging the Echo Show 15's front-facing camera. While its responses were two to three sentences long, they were descriptive and dictated in a fairly approachable tone. The agentic capabilities of Alexa+ extend to browsing, with the ability to navigate the internet via Alexa.com and complete tasks for you on Amazon-partnered websites. For example, Alexa was asked to book a professional repairman for a damaged appliance. It then searched for a nearby repair service and booked an appointment via Thumbtack. Also: 16 incredibly useful things Alexa can do on Amazon Echo In another demo, a presenter worked with Alexa to build out a shopping list, suggesting items to add or remove throughout the conversation. Surprisingly, the feature supported shopping partners beyond Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. As Alexa responds, a flowing blue animation appears on the bottom of the device screen. This new change reflects Amazon's more expressive UI. Besides responding more naturally, with sprinkles of humor, another big unveiling showed how Alexa can now fulfill tasks throughout your daily apps and services, including your calendar and emails. It can book a dinner for you and send invitations for that to your closest contacts, too. We've seen similar agentic capabilities with Google's Gemini. Also: Ring just made outdoor security more affordable with its new $100 2K camera In a demo, the virtual assistant was asked to recommend local pizzerias, to which it pulled top-rated storefronts via Yelp. Another example included asking Alexa to remember things, such as "Mary likes Greek and Indian food and is vegetarian but doesn't like peanut butter." It did just that without a question. Amazon also unveiled a series of new widgets alongside its refreshed Echo Show home screen, including ones that surface recipes, recent apps, weather, shopping lists, and connected smart home devices. Also: 5 Amazon Alexa privacy settings you should change right away The adaptive display leverages the larger screen real estate to display relevant information depending on whether you're far away from the device or closer to it. For example, the Echo Show will display photos and personalized content from afar and switch to a more detailed layout when you approach it. For a music demo, Panay asked Alexa, "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings... it's like in a duet?" to which it answered, "Shallow with Lady Gaga from the movie *A Star Is Born*." More impressively, you can now dictate where music is playing from if you have multiple Alexa-enabled speakers in your house. Also: The best Alexa devices of 2025: Expert tested and recommended For example, you can ask Alexa to play music on the left or right, with the assumption that speakers are mounted in designated areas. We'll have to see exactly how reliable this is in real-world tests. And for Amazon's last trick, Panay asked Alexa to skip to the scene in the movie when "Shallow" is sung, and it did -- on the second try. Alexa now supports AI-powered video search, allowing it to process recordings by Ring cameras to answer questions. In a live demo, Panay asked the assistant whether anyone had taken out the dog yesterday or the day before, to which it sifted through past video libraries to determine the answer. "You can now share just about anything with Alexa," said Mara Segal, Director of Alexa. That includes dense legal documents, handwritten notes, school schedules, PDFs, and more, from which the assistant can process the content and answer related questions. Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responses In another example, a school schedule was uploaded, and Alexa was asked to add dates for soccer practices to the calendar and suggest snacks that could be brought to them. Amazon's focus on kids-centric services extends to Alexa+, which now includes the Explore and Stories features. In a demo, the assistant was asked to create a story about funny animals. It followed up with a story about "Benny the Bearded Dragon," accompanied by a series of AI-generated artwork. How much does Alexa Plus cost? The upgraded Alexa service will cost $19.99 a month or be free if you're an Amazon Prime member. It will officially roll out over the next few weeks and "subsequently in waves in the coming months," according to Amazon. Also: The best Alexa smart speaker I've tested isn't an Echo Amazon says that Alexa Plus will be available on all Echo devices, including the Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, with the exception of certain older generation Echo devices like Echo Dot 1st Gen, Echo 1st Gen, Echo Plus 1st Gen, Echo Tap, Echo Show 1st Gen, Echo Show 2nd Gen, and Echo Spot 1st Gen, where you can continue to use the original Alexa. According to its press release, "You'll also be able to try Alexa+ on your web browser, the Alexa app, compatible Fire TVs and Fire tablets. This experience is not currently supported on Alexa Built-in devices and Amazon Astro, however we look forward to expanding Alexa+ to additional devices in the future."

Amazon's new Alexa+ announced: costs $19.99, free for Amazon Prime members

TL;DR: Amazon has introduced Alexa+, a generative AI-powered voice assistant that surpasses previous capabilities. It offers conversational, proactive features, and can perform tasks like planning events, booking services, and managing smart devices. Alexa+ integrates with numerous APIs and is available for $19.99 monthly, included with Prime. Early access starts in March in the US. Amazon has announced Alexa+, its new generative AI-powered Alexa voice assistant that has beaten Apple to the punch. Amazon's new Alexa+ is conversational, proactive, capable of reason and inference, and can learn from context and your life. It is a big leap into the true AI assistant world, where Alexa+ can plan a date, book a restaurant, text your loved ones, create a travel itinerary and add it to everyone's calendar, read your study guide, and give you a test on the answers, remember your favorite foods and movies, as well as finding your smart devices and take action. Phew. It's not just boasting a host of new AI abilities, but Alexa+ will now be better than everything it used to do, no longer having to use precise phrasing or constantly having to say "Alexa". In the place of Skills, Amazon now has Experts, which is Alexa's various large language models (LLMs) that smartly tap into deliver on your requests however you phrase them -- this includes ordering food, turning on lights, through to things like who has been at your door, and what to cook for dinner. Amazon says that it has tens of thousands of integrations through APIs as well as new "agentic experiences" that let Alexa+ navigate and fill out annoying web forms, and do things like book a cleaner for your house, or a repairman. The company is also revamping its Alexa app which will house Alexa+ on your smartphone, and a new alexa.com website that you can use with the new AI assistant from your keyboard. Amazon's new Alexa+ service costs $19.99 a month and is included with Prime memberships. It's not available to everyone just yet, with an early access program launching in late-March in the US only, to customers with an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21. Amazon says that Alexa+ will be coming to other Echo devices like the Echo Buds and Echo Frames, and be compatible with Fire TVs and Fire tablets.

Amazon Debuts Alexa+, a Smarter, But Potentially Pricer Assistant

Goodbye old Alexa, and your stiff AI interactions. On Wednesday, Amazon introduced a new and improved "Alexa+" voice assistant that acts more like a human, thanks to advancements in generative AI. At an event in New York, the company demoed Alexa+, hyping it up as a voice assistant that understands the nuances of natural human conversation. In one demo, Amazon showed Alexa+ talking through an Echo Show 21 smart display, and sounding more like a TikTok influencer than a monotone voice assistant. "She's smarter than she's ever been before. But she's also approachable, which is so important," said Panos Panay, Amazon's head for devices and services. "That intimidation factor of AI is gone. She's useful. She can plan a date, book the restaurant, and text the sitter." But Alexa+ will only be free if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber. Otherwise you can expect to pay $19.99 per month for access. "Alexa+ will start rolling out in the US in the next few weeks, and subsequently in waves in the coming months starting with households with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21," the company added. "If you don't yet have one of these devices, you can buy one today to be among the first to get early access to Alexa+ as it becomes available." The company has upgraded Alexa by harnessing not one, but a whole collection of the latest large language models for what's called a "model agnostic system." The result means Alexa+ can choose from several models to fulfill the user's request. It also means the revamped digital assistant promises to possess a wide range of capabilities, including the ability to remember and act on your preferences. In one demo, the company showed that Alexa+ can also use an Echo device's camera to recognize its surroundings and the crowd at the New York event. In addition, the improved voice assistant is smart enough to stream music from one smart speaker to another if you request it to "play the music upstairs" or "play the music everywhere, but don't wake the baby." Like other generative AI programs, Alexa+ can set reminders and search through any documents or emails you've shared to quickly provide a summary or look up the desired information. This can include helping you find out what your HOA guidelines say about solar panels, the company said as an example. Amazon executives conceded that earlier versions of Alexa offered a hit or miss experience. The voice assistant, which has been embedded across Echo smart devices, can suffer from awkward and stiff interactions since it can't always understand the full context of a command or request. As a result, many users have resorted to "Alexa Speak," carefully wording their requests to Amazon's voice assistant, rather than using natural language, Panay said. But that's all changed with the arrival of generative AI models. "Every once in a while a technology comes around and it changes literally everything. The creation of gen AI and chatbots has shaken up everything," he said. The company plans on rolling out early access to Alexa+ next month. Amazon added in a blog post: "You can also use Alexa+ anywhere you want, from your favorite Echo devices and the Alexa mobile app to an all-new web browser experience."

Alexa+ release date, cost, devices and all the new AI features

Amazon has unveiled Alexa Plus (Alexa+), an advanced iteration of its familiar voice assistant. The AI assistant has been upgraded to offer users a more natural and intuitive interaction experience. Building upon its predecessor, Alexa+ introduces enhanced conversational abilities with memory and emotional capabilities, similar to what users have become accustomed to with chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini. Additionally, the AI-assistant offers more thorough personalized assistance, and a suite of new features aimed at integrating into users' daily lives. Amazon's latest AI-powered assistant, Alexa+, is built on the Bedrock platform and harnesses multiple large language models (LLMs), including Amazon's own Nova and models from partners like Anthropic. This advanced framework enhances Alexa+'s ability to comprehend natural language, remember user preferences, and respond to emotion and converse with greater accuracy. Because of its infrastructure, Alexa+ has the capability to integrate with a wide variety of smart home devices and popular apps such as Spotify, OpenTable, and Ticketmaster. Users can expect richer, more dynamic interactions, as Alexa+ is designed to understand context, detect emotional cues, and remember individual preferences to deliver tailored responses. Alexa+ has the ability to do more than most voice-based assistants. It can process image inputs, generate inline SVG images, and integrate with tools like DALL·E for AI-powered image creation. Additionally, its built-in web search functionality ensures that users have access to the most up-to-date information available. These enhancements make Alexa+ an invaluable tool for a range of purposes, from creative endeavors to in-depth research. Alexa+ is set to roll out in the United States over the next few weeks, starting with Echo Show models 8, 10, 15, and the new Echo Show 21. Amazon plans to expand compatibility to other Alexa-enabled devices and introduce a dedicated Alexa+ mobile app in the coming months. The service is priced at $19.99 per month for non-Prime members. However, Amazon Prime subscribers will have complimentary access to Alexa+, adding significant value to the existing Prime membership benefits. Given that an Amazon Prime subscription currently costs $14.99 per month (or $139 annually), subscribing to Prime may be more economical for users interested in Alexa+. Although you'll need an Echo Show 8, 10, 15 or 21 to get access to Alexa Plus as part of the initial rollout, it will be available on all Echo devices. These are the Echo devices that will support Alexa Plus with a voice-only experience: Users can start a command on one Alexa-enabled device and continue it on another, ensuring a cohesive and flexible smart home experience. This feature is particularly useful for larger homes with multiple access points. For more info, see our complete guide to Alexa+ devices. Amazon's introduction of Alexa+ signifies a strategic move to redefine the role of virtual assistants in daily life. By leveraging generative AI and expanding its ecosystem through partnerships, Alexa+ aims to provide a more personalized, efficient, and human-like interaction experience as it evens out the playing field with its competitors in the AI space. As the service rolls out, users should ensure access to a compatible Echo Show device and active Amazon Prime membership to get the most cost-effective and comprehensive experience.

7 exciting AI features coming with Alexa Plus (and how to get the service for free)

Today's Devices and Services event showcased the future of Alexa - and how the AI would power Amazon's most popular products. Amazon's early-year Devices and Services event is underway, and the company is making it clear that AI will continue to be at the center of its hardware universe. Driving the buzzword of the century is Alexa, arguably the most popular virtual assistant in the world. SVP of Devices and Services Panos Panay suggested that millions of new customers use it every day during the event. Also: Everything Amazon announced at its Devices and Services event today And that's likely true: Alexa is at the core of Amazon's most prominent hardware products, including Echo speakers and Fire TVs. Today, the company showcased what's next for its virtual assistant, now named Alexa+, as it looks to compete with the likes of Google, OpenAI, and others. The new Alexa will be "something that understands you, that can actually take action," Panay teased, and it'll work with tens of thousands of services from Amazon partners. Here's a rundown of the best new features coming with Alexa+ and how much it'll cost. Powered by LLMs, Alexa+ can now process visual information via your device's cameras to understand and answer questions. Alexa was asked to describe the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm at the event by leveraging the Echo Show 15's front-facing camera. Notably, its responses were two to three sentences long. The agentic capabilities of Alexa+ extend to browsing, with the ability to navigate the internet via Alexa.com and complete tasks for you on Amazon-partnered websites. For example, Alexa was asked to book a professional repairman for a damaged appliance. It then searched for a nearby repair service and booked an appointment via Thumbtack. Also: 16 incredibly useful things Alexa can do on Amazon Echo In another demo, a presenter worked with Alexa to build out a shopping list, suggesting items to add or remove throughout the conversation. Surprisingly, the feature supported shopping partners beyond Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. As Alexa responds, a flowing blue animation appears on the bottom of the device screen. This new change reflects Amazon's more expressive UI. Besides responding more naturally, with sprinkles of humor, another big unveiling showed how Alexa can now fulfill tasks throughout your daily apps and services, including your calendar and emails. It can book a dinner for you and send invitations for that to your closest contacts, too. We've seen similar agentic capabilities with Google's Gemini. Also: Ring just made outdoor security more affordable with its new $100 2K camera In a demo, the virtual assistant was asked to recommend local pizzerias, to which it pulled top-rated storefronts via Yelp. Another example included asking Alexa to remember things, such as "Mary likes Greek and Indian food and is vegetarian but doesn't like peanut butter." It did just that without a question. Amazon also unveiled a series of new widgets alongside its refreshed Echo Show home screen, including ones that surface recipes, recent apps, weather, shopping lists, and connected smart home devices. The adaptive display leverages the larger screen real estate to display relevant information depending on whether you're far away from the device or closer to it. For example, the Echo Show will display photos and personalized content from afar and switch to a more detailed layout when you approach it. For a music demo, Panay asked Alexa, "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings... it's like in a duet?" to which is answered, "Shallow with Lady Gaga from the movie A Star Is Born." More impressively, you can now dictate where music is playing from if you have multiple Alexa-enabled speakers in your house. Also: The best Alexa devices of 2025: Expert tested and recommended For example, you can ask Alexa to play music on the left or right, with the assumption that speakers are mounted in designated areas. We'll have to see exactly how reliable this is in real-world tests. And for Amazon's last trick, Panay asked Alexa to skip to the scene in the movie when "Shallow" is sung, and it did -- on the second try. Alexa now supports AI-powered video search, allowing it to process recordings by Ring cameras to answer questions. In a live demo, Panay asked the assistant whether anyone had taken out the dog yesterday or the day before, to which it sifted through past video libraries to determine the answer. "You can now share just about anything with Alexa," said Mara Segal, Director of Alexa. That includes dense legal documents, handwritten notes, school schedules, PDFs, and more, from which the assistant can process the content and answer related questions. Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responses In another example, a school schedule was uploaded, and Alexa was asked to add dates for soccer practices to the calendar and suggest snacks that could be brought to them. Amazon's focus on kids-centric services extends to Alexa+, which now includes the Explore and Stories features. In a demo, the assistant was asked to create a story about funny animals. It followed up with a story about "Benny the Bearded Dragon," accommodated with a series of AI-generated artwork. How much does Alexa Plus cost? The upgraded Alexa service will cost $19.99 a month or free if you're an Amazon Prime member.

Exploring the Features of Amazon's Alexa Plus: Hype vs. Reality

Amazon just launched - its most advanced AI-powered voice assistant. The new version introduces memory, personalized responses and smart home integration. It will be available in the U.S first and with no confirmed international release date. The assistant works on most Echo devices except the first-generation models. Its users can access it via three options. The Alexa app, Fire TV and Fire tablets. However, Alexa Plus is incompatible with "Alexa Built-in" devices like smartwatches and headphones. priced at $19.99 per month. However, Prime subscribers can access it for free. This move aligns with Amazon's strategy to increase Prime memberships. The company will also launch Alexa Plus initially on Echo Show devices before expanding to other models. Alexa Plus offers improved smart home management. It integrates with Ring cameras to provide event summaries and Smart Video Search. Users can ask questions about past events, such as package deliveries. The assistant also enables voice-controlled music transfers between rooms and new smart home routines. has upgraded Alexa's memory capabilities. The assistant can store and recall personal information like calendar events and shopping lists. Users can upload documents, emails and recipes for easy retrieval. The more data shared, the more personalized the experience becomes. Families with Kids Plus subscriptions will also see improvements. Alexa Plus includes new features like "Stories with Alexa" and "Explore with Alexa." These enhancements offer interactive storytelling and AI-generated visuals for children. Amazon also plans to expand . These future expansion plans and updates may include deeper integration with services like OpenTable, Uber and grocery delivery platforms. The company also aims to introduce AI agents for task automation. will remain available for now. At the same time, Amazon encourages users to upgrade. Alexa Plus is a representation of the next step in AI-powered voice assistants that combines convenience with smart automation.

7 useful AI features coming with Alexa Plus (and which Echo devices will support it)

Amazon's Devices and Services event unveiled the next evolution of Alexa, highlighting how its advanced AI will enhance and drive the company's most popular products. Amazon's early-year Devices and Services event is underway, and the company is making it clear that AI will continue to be at the center of its hardware universe. Driving the buzzword of the century is Alexa, arguably the most popular virtual assistant in the world. SVP of Devices and Services Panos Panay suggested that millions of new customers use it every day during the event. Also: Everything Amazon announced at its Devices and Services event today And that's likely true: Alexa is at the core of Amazon's most prominent hardware products, including Echo speakers and Fire TVs. Today, the company showcased what's next for its virtual assistant, now named Alexa+, as it looks to compete with the likes of Google, OpenAI, and others. The new Alexa will be "something that understands you, that can actually take action," Panay teased, and it will work with tens of thousands of services from Amazon partners. Here's a rundown of the best new features coming with Alexa+ and how much it will cost. Powered by LLMs, Alexa+ can now process visual information via your device's cameras to understand and answer questions. In one instance, Alexa was asked to describe the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm at the event by leveraging the Echo Show 15's front-facing camera. While its responses were two to three sentences long, they were descriptive and dictated in a fairly approachable tone. The agentic capabilities of Alexa+ extend to browsing, with the ability to navigate the internet via Alexa.com and complete tasks for you on Amazon-partnered websites. For example, Alexa was asked to book a professional repairman for a damaged appliance. It then searched for a nearby repair service and booked an appointment via Thumbtack. Also: 16 incredibly useful things Alexa can do on Amazon Echo In another demo, a presenter worked with Alexa to build out a shopping list, suggesting items to add or remove throughout the conversation. Surprisingly, the feature supported shopping partners beyond Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. As Alexa responds, a flowing blue animation appears on the bottom of the device screen. This new change reflects Amazon's more expressive UI. Besides responding more naturally, with sprinkles of humor, another big unveiling showed how Alexa can now fulfill tasks throughout your daily apps and services, including your calendar and emails. It can book a dinner for you and send invitations for that to your closest contacts, too. We've seen similar agentic capabilities with Google's Gemini. Also: Ring just made outdoor security more affordable with its new $100 2K camera In a demo, the virtual assistant was asked to recommend local pizzerias, to which it pulled top-rated storefronts via Yelp. Another example included asking Alexa to remember things, such as "Mary likes Greek and Indian food and is vegetarian but doesn't like peanut butter." It did just that without a question. Amazon also unveiled a series of new widgets alongside its refreshed Echo Show home screen, including ones that surface recipes, recent apps, weather, shopping lists, and connected smart home devices. Also: 5 Amazon Alexa privacy settings you should change right away The adaptive display leverages the larger screen real estate to display relevant information depending on whether you're far away from the device or closer to it. For example, the Echo Show will display photos and personalized content from afar and switch to a more detailed layout when you approach it. For a music demo, Panay asked Alexa, "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings... it's like in a duet?" to which it answered, "Shallow with Lady Gaga from the movie *A Star Is Born*." More impressively, you can now dictate where music is playing from if you have multiple Alexa-enabled speakers in your house. Also: The best Alexa devices of 2025: Expert tested and recommended For example, you can ask Alexa to play music on the left or right, with the assumption that speakers are mounted in designated areas. We'll have to see exactly how reliable this is in real-world tests. And for Amazon's last trick, Panay asked Alexa to skip to the scene in the movie when "Shallow" is sung, and it did -- on the second try. Alexa now supports AI-powered video search, allowing it to process recordings by Ring cameras to answer questions. In a live demo, Panay asked the assistant whether anyone had taken out the dog yesterday or the day before, to which it sifted through past video libraries to determine the answer. "You can now share just about anything with Alexa," said Mara Segal, Director of Alexa. That includes dense legal documents, handwritten notes, school schedules, PDFs, and more, from which the assistant can process the content and answer related questions. Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responses In another example, a school schedule was uploaded, and Alexa was asked to add dates for soccer practices to the calendar and suggest snacks that could be brought to them. Amazon's focus on kids-centric services extends to Alexa+, which now includes the Explore and Stories features. In a demo, the assistant was asked to create a story about funny animals. It followed up with a story about "Benny the Bearded Dragon," accompanied by a series of AI-generated artwork. How much does Alexa Plus cost? The upgraded Alexa service will cost $19.99 a month or be free if you're an Amazon Prime member. It will officially roll out over the next few weeks and "subsequently in waves in the coming months," according to Amazon. Also: The best Alexa smart speaker I've tested isn't an Echo Amazon says that the new service will come to almost all Echo devices, including the Show 8, 10, 15, and 21. You can expect the capabilities to be supported by the latest models, as well as ones from recent years. Stay tuned for the official compatibility list, including whether or not this applies to the Echo, Echo Spot, and Echo Pop as well. We've reached out to Amazon for a response.

Amazon's Alexa+ comes with a $20 fee, Prime subscribers get it for free

Summary Amazon finally unveils Alexa+. A major generative AI upgrade designed to revitalize Alexa, featuring enhanced conversational abilities, personalized intelligence, and proactive task management, aiming to compete with Google's Gemini and Apple's Siri. Alexa+ will cost $20/month for standalone access, but is included for free with Amazon Prime subscriptions ($15/month), with an initial rollout on select Echo Show devices in the coming weeks. Alexa+ will offer advanced smart home controls, seamless integration with Amazon services like Prime Video and Ring, and future capabilities including AI-powered grocery lists and orders, emphasizing a deeper connection within the Amazon ecosystem. With the rise of AI-powered digital assistants, alternatives like Alexa have slowly retreated to the shadows. However, Amazon is now fighting back, finally announcing the Alexa AI upgrade that users have long been waiting for. Aptly dubbed Alexa+, the new generative AI assistant was announced at the e-commerce giant's 'February 2025 Devices & Services live event,' highlighting the upgrades that are poised to help Alexa users stay organized and have their queries answered -- all through natural conversation. Related Amazon's AI-powered Alexa is almost ready to take on Gemini and Siri Amazon will take the final call on Feb 14th Posts 1 The upgrade comes soon after reports about the AI upgrade hitting speed bumps. However, with its official unveiling today, it is safe to say that Alexa could be ready to take on the likes of Google's Gemini and Apple's Siri sooner than the reported March 31 deadline, at least when it comes to smart home assistants. Amazon emphasized that Alexa+ extends the digital assistant's capabilities far beyond basic voice commands. For starters, Alexa+ is conversational, and can engage in natural and flowing conversations "that feel genuine." With personalized intelligence, the digital assistant learns your preferences over time, including the likes of dietary restrictions, allergies, your favorite TV shows and movies, weekly traditions, and a lot more. Alexa+ acts on your behalf, handling everything from date planning and gift shopping to travel arrangements and study help. Amazon highlighted that Alexa+ will be available on all devices that already support the digital assistant, including the Alexa mobile app and a new web-based browser experience. However, during its initial release window, Alexa+ will only be available on Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21. "Alexa+ will start rolling out in the U.S. in the next few weeks, and subsequently in waves in the coming months," wrote the e-commerce giant. "Alexa, what's that movie where Bradley Cooper sings a duet? Jump to that scene" Related 25 of the funniest Alexa commands Looking for a laugh? Ask Alexa these questions Posts If you didn't find those commands above funny, you'll definitely chuckle at Amazon's pricing strategy. The e-retailer has somehow decided to charge $20/month for access to Alexa+ (the same price as Gemini Advanced), all while offering the upgraded AI assistant for free to Prime subscribers. Prime costs $15 per month and offers a range of other benefits on top -- go figure. To justify the price, Amazon highlighted future capabilities that are poised to land on Alexa+, including an option to create and generate intelligent grocery lists with conversational language, adding ingredients to an Amazon Fresh order, and ultimately placing the order with partners like Whole Foods and Grubhub. The e-commerce giant also highlighted examples where Alexa's integration with Amazon's range of smart devices and services will truly shine. These include: Functionality to create personalized automations/routines with voice requests. Functionality to help you find songs and/or discover new music within your favorite genre. Functionality to jump to a specific scene within your movies and shows. For example, you'll be able to say "what's that movie where Bradley Cooper sings a duet? Jump to that scene..." and the digital assistant will be able to find and play that exact scene on a supported device. Functionality to help you get an overview of what's happening/happened around your home. Users that pair Alexa+ with a Ring subscription will be able to as the AI assistant for a summary of detected camera events, complete with relevant footage for those events. For example, you'll be able to ask Alexa+ questions like "Did someone take out the garbage bins?" or "When was the last time the dog went out for a walk?" Expect our detailed thoughts about the new AI assistant shortly after it goes live in the US in the coming weeks. As of right now, just the fact that it is bundled with a Prime subscription is enough to rate it as a truly solid upgrade.

Alexa Plus -- 5 new AI features I can't wait to try

After more than a year's wait, Amazon finally unveiled Alexa Plus, its new and improved voice assistant that uses AI to enable more complex interactions and let you do more than just set egg timers and play music. Alexa Plus will cost $19.99 per month (but it will be free for Prime members) and will roll out to the Echo Show 8, Echo Show 10, Echo Show 15, and Echo Show 21 in a few short weeks. Check out our recap of the Amazon Devices event. I was at the event, and after seeing a few demos of Alexa Plus up close, here are the five things I can't wait to try myself. The Echo Show devices have made it easier to control smart home devices and to get a live look in at security cameras and video doorbells. But there's still some major pain points around setting up smart home routines and performing basic tasks, especially if you have family members who aren't as comfortable using a smart assistant. One of the neatest things I saw was that Alexa Plus was able to make inferences around the names of smart home devices -- potentially eliminating the frustration when you ask it to turn off a light, but getting a response like "there are several devices with that name." Now, for example, if you've named one of your lights "sofa light," you can tell Alexa to "turn off the light by the seating," and it will assume you're talking about the sofa light. Another demo showed how Alexa can tie in with the best home security cameras, in this case Ring, which is owned by Amazon. If you're subscribed to Ring's premium plan (which has AI-enabled smart video search), you can ask Alexa to show you, say, videos of children playing in the snow on your driveway. Or, if you've told Alexa your dog's name and its breed, you can ask it to show you videos of when someone took it for a walk. What could really be helpful, though, is how you can use natural language to create a routine. In one demo, an Amazon representative said "I want to create a new workout routine to help me make sure I really get to my workout every morning." Alexa responded "I've created a new morning workout routine for you. Here's what it does: Every weekday at 6 am, I'll announce 'Time for your morning workout! Let's get moving!' on all your devices. Then, I'll play an upbeat workout playlist on your Echo Show 21 for an hour. Finally, I'll start a 30-minute workout timer. This should help you stay on track with your fitness goal." The rep then showed how he could modify the routine so that Alexa wouldn't start it until a motion sensor picked up his movement, and to have the playlist play on another Echo device. One of the more interesting -- and potentially unsettling -- features of Alexa Plus is its ability to analyze a document and generate suggestions, such as adding things to your calendar, setting reminders, and generally acting as a virtual assistant. For example, you could scan in a copy of your kid's after-school activities or baseball games, and all would be added to your calendar, so you don't forget to pick them up. You'll be able to do this via the Alexa app, a web browser, or by sending an email to Alexa. A demo I saw was for someone's tennis practices, which included a code they needed to access the courts; the Amazon representative told Alexa to send him a reminder with the code right before each practice. That's really handy, but I would be concerned with giving Alexa access to any other potentially sensitive information. "We centralize important information such as your interactions with Alexa+ and various settings into the Alexa Privacy dashboard," writes Amazon on its blog. "Built on the secure infrastructure of AWS, Alexa+ brings world-class privacy and security protection to your everyday interactions." Those who upload documents to Alexa will also be able to delete them, much in the same way you can currently delete your interactions with Alexa. No one likes to pay more for things, but knowing when something drops in price can be hard to find. Using Alexa Plus, you can search for things like tickets to sports or entertainment events, and set up a notification for when prices drop. While I've rarely seen ticket prices drop -- good luck with Taylor Swift concerts -- but it's nice to dream. You can also use Alexa Plus to monitor items on Amazon and let you know when they go on sale. You can even set Alexa to automatically order those products for you. I'll be really curious to see if this works with Amazon Fresh: "Alexa, notify me when the price of eggs drops below $8." At several demo areas, Amazon representatives showed how Alexa Plus works with third-party apps such as Uber, OpenTable, TicketMaster, and Grubhub to make it easier to call for a call, get food, reservations, and more. While it doesn't look like Alexa will call a restaurant on your behalf to make a reservation, as Google Assistant does, it can use an app like OpenTable to book a seat for you. Amazon also showed how you could easily modify your reservation via Alexa Plus by saying something like "oh, we now have three people, and we need to move the reservation to 7 p.m." When ordering an Uber ride, the Echo Show displayed several car options, which you could select with a tap. If you were ordering the ride for someone elsou could then tell Alexa to send them a message letting them know their car was on the way. I think a real test of Alexa Plus' imagination will be with one of its kid-focused features, called Stories with Alexa. All you have to do is to ask Alexa to create a story, and then you tell it what kind of story you'd like, what sort of creatures or people should be in the story, and so forth -- it's sort of like mad libs. The stories will have narrators, sound effects, and visual elements, too. I'm really curious to see how creative Alexa Plus will be with its stories, and how interactive it will be for children. This feature will also require an Amazon Kids+ subscription, which is $5.99 per month for Amazon Prime members and $7.99 per month for non-Prime members. There was a lot to unpack at Amazon's Devices - er, Alexa Plus event. As Alexa Plus rolls out, there will undoubtedly be a lot of new features and things to try, so we're looking forward to testing everything it has to offer.

Amazon Alexa+ is a smarter AI upgrade that can remember your recipes, emails, and more

Amazon just announced its AI-powered update for Alexa, which delivers a host of new features and capabilties including the ability to read and remember your documents among many other things. At a "Devices & Services" event in NYC today that lacked any new devices, Amazon announced "Alexa+," its new AI-powered upgrade for its long-running voice assistant. Amazon explains that there are four main areas of upgrade in Alexa+, starting with a more conversational voice assistant. Natural language understanding allows Alexa+ to have "natural, flowing conversations that feel genuine," the company explains. Alexa+ is also more personalized over time, learning from how you interact with it and the tasks you have it perform. Tasks should also be upgraded with the help of AI, with Alexa+ able to handle "everything from date planning and gift shopping to travel arrangements and study help." Finally, Alexa+ is said to be smarter with the help of generative AI. So, what functional upgrades are there? Alexa+ is able to create new "Routines" automations by voice, move music between rooms in the home, skip straight to a specific scene in a movie playing on Fire TV, and leverage Ring cameras and history to summarize events in and around your home and answer questions such as "did someone take out the garbage bins?" One of the more impressive new features Amazon details is the ability to upload documents - including recipes - to Alexa+ and allow the AI to remember the details of that document to answer questions later on. This also works with emails, as you can "forward" emails to Alexa+ and later ask questions about those emails. Google supports similar functionality natively in Gemini, though only directly within the Gmail app. Other features coming with Alexa+ include the ability to generate stories for kids, booking dinner reservations or Uber rides, and getting recommendations for local service providers. Alexa+ is a paid upgrade on top of the existing voice assistant, costing $19.99/month unless you have Amazon Prime, in which case it's free. Alexa+ is rolling out starting on Echo Show devices in the US "in the next few weeks" and then to all users in the US "over the coming months."

Amazon Finally Unveils Its AI-Powered Alexa+ Voice Assistant

Alexa+ will be able to remember certain details about the user Amazon has finally introduced the artificial intelligence (AI) version of its voice assistant on Wednesday. Dubbed Alexa+, it now comes with contextual understanding, can better control smart home appliances, is personalised to a user's behaviour, and also gets agentic capabilities. Alexa+ will be available as a standalone service as well as bundled with Amazon Prime subscription. The tech giant first announced its plans to build an AI-powered voice assistant in 2023, however, a report in June 2024 claimed that the company was struggling to add AI capabilities to Alexa. In a newsroom post, Panos Panay, SVP of Devices & Services at Amazon announced the AI-powered upgrade to Alexa. Panay joined the e-commerce giant in October 2203 after spending 19 years at Microsoft and helping build the company's Surface devices. He was reportedly hired by Amazon to oversee the Alexa+ project. The generative AI-powered Alexa+ enhances the existing features of the voice assistant and makes it more "conversational, smarter, and personalised," claimed Panay. It can answer queries, complete smart home appliance-based tasks, and converse with users. The Verge reported that Alexa+ is a model-agnostic system. This means while it is equipped with a foundation model to build its architecture (Amazon Nova model), it can also choose third-party AI models best suited for a task via Amazon Bedrock. The company reportedly highlighted that Alexa+ leverages Anthropic's large language models. Panay claimed that Alexa+ can make reservations or appointments online, follow complex commands to control smart home devices, find and play music from streaming services such as Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music based on vague descriptions, order groceries and food online, and even remind users when tickets for a particular event goes online. Alexa+ is also equipped with agentic capabilities. The voice assistant can complete tasks on the Internet on the user's behalf. For instance, if a user needs to get their oven fixed, they can command Alexa and it will search on the web, discover relevant service providers, authenticate, arrange the repair, and inform the user about the details. Amazon says the entire process will be automated and the user will not have to supervise its actions. Personalisation is also being improved with Alexa+. The AI-powered voice assistant can access users' activities across Amazon services to know shipping addresses, payment preferences, and content they typically watch. Additionally, users can also tell the voice assistant to remember certain details such as important dates, dietary preferences, and more. Alexa will remember this and its future responses will be tailored around that. Alexa+ will also improve the way the voice assistant manages smart home devices. It can now proactively let users know if a package was delivered or someone visited their home. It can also remember future commands and execute them at a given time. It also comes with computer vision, which means users can upload documents and images and it can analyse the content, summarise them, and even answer queries about them. Panay stated that Alexa+ will be available to users everywhere the voice assistant is present. Additionally, a new Android and iOS app as well as a new website is also being introduced for the generative AI-based voice assistant. When synced, users will be able to start a conversation on one platform and continue it on another one. In a few weeks, Amazon will begin rolling out the Alexa+ voice assistant. The initial launch will offer the AI-powered voice assistant in the US via early access. It will first be available in Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, and later expanded to more devices and platforms. Users will be able to access Alexa+ at the price of $19.99 (roughly Rs. 1,740) per month. However, those already subscribed to Amazon Prime will get it for free.

Amazon unveils Alexa+ with new capabilities, more knowledge of users

Amazon wants Alexa to be a bigger part of your routine. The company unveiled a new version of its voice assistant, dubbed Alexa+, on Wednesday after months of delay. The revamped Alexa will be more conversational and personalized, and it will be able to process a lot more user data if owners want it to. That will enable the voice assistant to answer more personal questions, expanding beyond its usual, "Alexa, what's the weather like this morning?" But it also means the software knows a lot more about you. As an example, Amazon said at a New York event on Wednesday, users could upload guidelines from their homeowners association and ask for a summary of the section on solar panels. Or, a user could upload some recipes and then ask how much oil is used in grandma's zucchini bread. They could also ask Alexa+ to read and summarize all emails from their child's school. Users can also connect the new Alexa to Amazon's video security system, Ring, and ask for a summary of the day: Did someone take out the trash? When was the last time the dog went for a walk? "Alexa+ is that trusted assistant that can help you conduct your life and your home," Panos Panay, head of Amazon's devices division, said Wednesday in a statement shared by Amazon. "I think you're going to love it." The new Alexa will cost $19.99 per month but is free for those who already pay $14.99 each month for an Amazon Prime subscription, the company said. It will be available first to customers who already have some versions of Amazon's Echo speaker. Alexa+ is powered by generative artificial intelligence -- the latest AI technology that OpenAI's ChatGPT popularized. Amazon, like every Big Tech company, has been pouring resources into AI development. Panay said that "while the vision of Alexa has been ambitious and incredibly compelling, right until this moment, we have been limited by technology." Amazon first introduced the idea of a new, generative AI-powered Alexa in September 2023, at what used to be an annual devices event where the company revealed new software and hardware projects. At the time, Amazon said the new Alexa would be more expressive, personable and fast, with the ability to remember and execute multiple tasks at once and continue a conversation after the user walked away. It still needed its "wake word" (Alexa) to know when an individual was talking to the device, rather than someone else in the room. Despite promises that the new Alexa capabilities would be available to customers soon after the 2023 event, Amazon delayed the rollout for more than a year as it struggled to refine the technology and avoid errors when a user asked the device a question. Former devices chief Dave Limp left Amazon shortly after the event. He is now CEO of Kent-based Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' rocket company. Panay took over as head of Amazon devices in October 2023. On Wednesday, Amazon said Alexa+ will "start rolling out" in the U.S. in the next few weeks. The new Alexa comes more than 10 years after the voice assistant's launch in 2014. Inside consumers' homes, the device could play music, share the weather or search for the answer to a user's random questions. But Amazon has recently struggled to make money from Alexa, and the devices division was hit hard by the company's sweeping layoffs in 2022 and 2023. The devices umbrella includes the company's other gadgets, like the Echo speaker, Fire TV and security systems. Now Amazon has poured resources into developing and harnessing the latest AI technology. At Amazon, that's housed mostly under its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told investors at the most recent quarterly earnings call that Amazon expects to spend $100 billion in 2025 to support demand for AI services and tech infrastructure. Amazon also unveiled Wednesday a new "web browser experience," through Alexa+ and said the voice assistant will now be able to remember the context of previous conversations. It introduced a new display on its Echo devices when integrated with Alexa+ that switches from photos to a customized home screen as users approach. Daniel Rausch, vice president for Alexa and Echo, said Alexa+ will have more capabilities in the future, particularly the ability to work with other apps to complete a series of tasks for users. As an example, Rausch said Alexa+ could help a user find recommendations for a maintenance provider and contact them to book an appointment.

Amazon unveils Alexa+ AI assistant powered by generative AI

Amazon has introduced Alexa+, the next-generation version of its popular AI assistant, at the 2025 Devices & Services Event. Powered by generative AI, Alexa+ is designed to be more conversational, intelligent, and personalized. According to Panos Panay, SVP of Devices & Services, Alexa+ helps users stay organized, learn new things, summarize complex topics, and even engage in meaningful conversations. Panay emphasized that Alexa+ can manage smart homes, make reservations, discover new music, and assist with online shopping. "Alexa+ does all this and more -- all you have to do is ask," he added. Conversations with Alexa+ feel natural and intuitive. Whether you're using casual language or exploring complex ideas, Alexa+ understands and responds like a trusted friend. "It feels less like interacting with technology and more like engaging with an insightful friend," Panay said. Turns Talk into Action Alexa+ is built on advanced large language models (LLMs) available on Amazon Bedrock. It can orchestrate tasks across tens of thousands of services and devices, a feat never achieved at this scale before. Alexa+ also introduces agentic capabilities, enabling it to complete tasks autonomously. For example, it can find a service provider on Thumbtack, book an oven repair, and notify you -- all without your intervention. Personalized to You Alexa+ learns your preferences, from shopping habits to dietary needs. You can also teach it family recipes, important dates, and more. For instance, it can suggest a restaurant that accommodates your family's dietary restrictions. Alexa+ is always available but steps in only when needed. It can warn you about traffic delays or notify you about sales on items you've been eyeing. Smart Home Management With over 600 million Alexa devices in use, Alexa+ enhances smart home experiences. It can set up your Fire TV, move music between speakers, and check Ring cameras for package deliveries. Available Everywhere Alexa+ is accessible via a new mobile app (on Apple App Store and Google Play) and a browser-based experience at Alexa.com. It remembers context, allowing you to continue conversations across devices. Alexa+ combines cutting-edge LLMs with Amazon's vast knowledge base. It can answer complex questions, like "What is the lowest point in any ocean?" or identify a song from a movie scene. You can also share documents, emails, or photos with Alexa+ for it to summarize or take action. For example, it can add events to your calendar or create quizzes from study materials. "Alexa+ deeply understands and brings it all together into an accurate and real-time response," Panay said. Alexa+ is designed with Amazon's commitment to privacy and security. "We've built Alexa+ the same way we do any Amazon product -- with a focus on protecting customer privacy and security," Panay explained. The Alexa Privacy Dashboard centralizes your interactions and settings, while AWS ensures robust data protection. Alexa+ integrates with hundreds of APIs to complete tasks seamlessly. For example, it can book a dinner reservation, arrange an Uber ride, and text your friend the details -- all in one go. It also features advanced agentic capabilities, such as booking home repairs via Thumbtack or creating songs with Suno. Daniel Rausch, VP for Alexa and Echo, highlighted how Alexa+ can autonomously handle tasks like finding a home maintenance provider and booking repairs. Alexa+ leverages Amazon Bedrock to access state-of-the-art LLMs, including Amazon's Nova models and those from Anthropic. Its model-agnostic system selects the best model for each task, supported by partnerships with news organizations like Associated Press, Reuters, TIME, USA TODAY, and Politico. Amazon Kids+ subscribers get two new features: Mara Segal, Director for Alexa, said these features are designed to "inspire and encourage kids' limitless curiosity and creativity." Alexa+ can extract information from documents, emails, and manuals. For example, it can summarize HOA guidelines or remind you about school events. "Alexa+ now understands and remembers your preferences and important information, making interactions more intuitive and personalized," Segal explained. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the company's 25-year history with AI. "We use AI to solve real customer problems," he said. "Generative AI will reinvent customer experiences and enable entirely new possibilities." Alexa+ costs USD 19.99 (Rs. 1,747 approx.) per month, but Amazon Prime members get it for free. It will roll out in the U.S. in the coming weeks, starting with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners.

Amazon reveals Alexa+ with AI upgrades, completely free for Prime members

Amazon unveils Alexa+, a generative AI-powered update to its digital assistant, enhancing capabilities like grocery ordering, reservations, and more. Set to launch in phases, it's free for Prime members while others pay $19.99 monthly. Compatible with nearly all Alexa devices, it promises improved user experience by learning users' life rhythms.A long-awaited update to Amazon's Alexa digital assistant was revealed on Wednesday. The company has spent years developing generative AI technologies to update Alexa. According to Amazon, it will be made available to a larger user base in phases over the next months after launching in early access in the United States starting next month. Amazon's Alexa+ is a trustworthy assistant that makes complex tasks more manageable and enjoyable. Amazon is known for simplifying complex products to make daily tasks easier. Alexa+ is expected to be popular among customers, and Amazon is reportedly excited to share its journey with them. Since the release of ChatGPT, Amazon has been working to improve Alexa's conversational skills using generative AI technology. On stage at a New York event, Panos Panay, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon, claimed that the redesigned service, which the firm is renaming "Alexa+," is driven by generative artificial intelligence. Panos believes that Alexa+ will make life and household tasks more enjoyable and accessible, as quoted in a report by CNBC. To use it, users will have to pay a monthly subscription fee. The program will cost $19.99 per month, or free for Amazon Prime members, when it launches in early access next month. ALSO READ: The untold story of how Donald Trump won over Melania and the unexpected way they first met Alexa+ can order groceries, make reservations for dinner, buy concert tickets, and recommend recipes for particular members of a user's household. It is also capable of organizing handwritten documents and retrieving information from them, as well as reading study guides and testing users on their responses. Panay remarked, "She will proactively take action with you after learning the rhythm of your life." According to Panay, Alexa+ will be compatible with "nearly every" Alexa device that the company has shipped. Amazon used an Echo Show, a voice-activated touchscreen display, for all of its Alexa+ demonstrations. In a demonstration after the event, Ann Wessing, Amazon's global general manager and product marketing director for Alexa and Echo, stated that the rollout of Alexa+ will begin with Echo Show devices, as quoted in a report by CNBC. According to Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV at Amazon, the update includes a "complete re-architecture" of Alexa. A "broad range of state-of-the-art" training models from multiple providers are used by Alexa+, according to Rausch. This includes both third-party models, such as the AI startup Anthropic, which is backed by Amazon, and Amazon's own collection of Nova models. Given that Prime members already pay $139 annually for the loyalty membership, Amazon will need to exercise caution when launching a paid Alexa service to prevent upsetting them. The business will also need to demonstrate "what this new Alexa can do" to consumers in order to make a subscription worthwhile. "A subscription fee for Alexa could help Amazon offset the high cost of AI development and make the digital assistant a more profitable business," said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC who oversees wearables and other devices, as per a report. What's new with Alexa+? Alexa+ now uses artificial intelligence to handle complex tasks such as grocery shopping, reservation booking, and even quizzing users on study materials. Is Alexa+ free for Prime subscribers? Yes, Prime members get Alexa+ for free, while others have to pay $19.99 per month.

Amazon unveils Alexa+, an AI-powered voice assistant with new features: All you need to know

Alexa+ is designed to learn from users and offer highly personalised recommendations Amazon has announced Alexa+, its next-generation AI-powered voice assistant designed to be smarter and more personalised. Alexa+ introduces a more natural conversational experience, advanced home management, and the ability to take actions across multiple services. Let's delve into the details of Alexa+. Alexa+ is powered by large language models (LLMs) available on Amazon Bedrock. "Conversations with Alexa+ feel expansive and natural. Whether you're speaking in half-formed thoughts, using colloquial expressions, or exploring complex ideas, Alexa+ understands what you mean, and responds like a trusted assistant," the company explained. Amazon describes it as a more intuitive and insightful assistant, making interactions feel like talking to a friend rather than a machine. One of the biggest improvements in Alexa+ is its ability to take actions on behalf of users. Amazon has developed "experts" -- specialised AI models that handle different tasks, like making reservations, controlling smart home devices, ordering food, or managing schedules. Alexa+ can book appointments, order groceries, control smart lights, and even remind users when concert tickets go on sale. Alexa+ is designed to learn from users and offer highly personalised recommendations. It remembers details like your favourite foods, music preferences, important dates, and even family recipes to enhance its responses. If you're planning a family dinner, Alexa+ can suggest recipes based on dietary preferences or recommend nearby restaurants. Also read: iQOO 12 available with Rs 9,000 discount on Amazon: Here's how this deal works Alexa+ will cost $19.99 per month, but Amazon Prime members get it for free as part of their membership benefits. The rollout will begin in the US in the coming weeks, prioritizing Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 users. Interested customers can join the early access waitlist at www.amazon.com/newalexa. There is no information yet if this will be released for Indian users.

Amazon debuts new Alexa+ with voice assistant and AI overhaul

Amazon debuts new Alexa+ with voice assistant and AI overhaul Amazon AMZN.O on Wednesday unveiled the first major overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant since its introduction more than a decade ago, embedding it with generative artificial intelligence. The effort carries significant weight at Amazon, which has plowed billions of dollars into Alexa since its launch in 2014 in the hope of putting the service into a range of devices and ultimately driving sales on its main e-commerce website. "Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life, your schedule, your smart home, your preferences, the devices you're using, the people you're connected to, the entertainment you love and uses many of the apps you use, a lot of the services you need," said Panos Panay, Amazon's head of devices and services, at a launch event in New York. The new service is called Alexa+, Panay said, echoing the nomenclature of the higher tier of many tech and streaming service offerings. Alexa+ is free for Amazon Prime members and is priced at $19.99 a month for non-Prime users. The service will be available in March to some users, with the rollout expanding to more people over time. Amazon had considered pricing the service at $5 or $10 per month for all users with no Prime tie-in. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Panay demonstrated how Alexa can store, through prompts, customer preferences - for example, that a household member is vegetarian and prefers Greek and Italian food but eschews peanut butter. It can be used to make dinner reservations and send timed texts or reminders. In case you missed it:Amazon is dropping its 'Try Before You Buy' purchasing option The service can connect to Amazon products such as Ring doorbells to show recordings from its cameras. Alexa director Mara Segal said Alexa can review documents such as a homeowners association contract so that a resident knows what is allowed, like installing solar panels. The event marked the unveiling of a secret project known internally as "Banyan" aimed at making Alexa more conversational. Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can learn from data and improve over time. Following the company's presentation, Amazon executives presented different capabilities of the service like using it for food ordering, smart home connections and video streaming. But it did not permit media to test the service themselves. Some who worked on the service had told Reuters that it occasionally provided incorrect answers to user questions or lagged for several seconds before completing a prompt. During the demonstration Wednesday, Panay and other executives had to ask more than once on a few occasions to have the Alexa service respond. While Amazon's Alexa was launched three years after Apple's Siri hit the iPhone maker's devices, Alexa helped make the use of voice assistants more mainstream. Still, the lack of solid improvements and overhauls to Alexa over the years meant an erosion in consumer usage of the service, especially in the age of AI. Apple AAPL.O has already incorporated its suite of AI features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, into its Siri voice assistant, while Google GOOGL.O has revamped its voice assistant using its AI chatbot Gemini. Alexa is voice-controlled software installed in products such as smart speakers that can provide answers to user questions, play music, set timers and serve as a hub for home automation, by linking internet-connected devices so that, for instance, a light can be turned on with just voice prompts. The new Alexa AI service will be able to respond to multiple prompts in sequence and even act as an "agent" by taking actions for users without their direct involvement. That contrasts with the current iteration which generally handles only a single request at a time. Amazon has said there are some 500 million Alexa-capable devices in consumer hands already, meaning the revamp is at once a huge money-making opportunity for the Seattle retailer - and a big financial risk if it does not live up to expectations. Amazon said Alexa+ will use the best AI model available for a given task using Bedrock, Amazon's grab bag of AI services to allow for experimentation. But Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo, acknowledged AI startup Anthropic's contribution to building Alexa+, confirming a Reuters story that Anthropic's Claude was an underpinning of the service. Amazon has invested $8 billion in Anthropic.

Alexa Plus just gave your smart home a major upgrade -- here's all the new features

Amazon has finally unveiled its upgraded virtual assistant at its Alexa event today and Alexa Plus is going to completely transform your smart home. From remembering your favorite foods, movies and music to updating your calendar, planning dates, booking restaurant reservations, and even calling your babysitter, Alexa Plus is the massive upgrade we've been waiting for. And the best part, it will be included as part of your existing Amazon Prime membership. If you don't have a Prime though, Alexa Plus will cost $20 per month. Likewise, not all of the best Alexa-compatible devices will support Amazon's upgraded virtual assistant when it starts rolling out in early access across the U.S. next month. Instead, Alexa+ will be available first on the Echo Show 8, Echo Show 10, Echo Show 15 and the Echo Show 21. Here are some of the cool new ways that you can use Alexa Plus to control your smart home, get more done and harness the power of AI using just your voice right from your Echo devices. After you get access to Alexa Plus, you'll be able to try out a bunch of new things on any compatible Echo Show devices. For starters, you'll be able to create new Alexa Routines for your smart home using just your voice. This was previously only possible from within the Alexa app but now, you can use your voice to set up complex Routines right from one of the best smart displays which should save you a lot of time. Chatting with Alexa will be more natural too and with Alexa Plus, you can easily get new music and movie recommendations just by asking. The same goes for when you have music playing in one room and want to move the tunes to a different part of your home. If you have a favorite scene in a movie that's on Prime Video, you will also be able to jump directly to a specific scene by asking Alexa Plus. For those with one of the best video doorbells or best home security cameras from Ring, Alexa Plus will make it easier to know what's going on in your smart home by providing you with a detailed summary of events detected by your cameras. For instance, you can see that a package was delivered and that the dog walker took your pet outside right when you step into your home through the highlights from that day. This feature will also integrate with Ring's Smart Video Search functionality and you can ask specific questions about whether or not someone took out the trash or when was the last time the dog went out for a walk. One of the best things about having a large smart display like the Echo Show 15 or Echo Show 21 in your kitchen like I do is that everyone can see important info at a glance while getting ready for the day. Now though with Alexa Plus, you'll be able to share documents like emails, recipes and more with Amazon's virtual assistant, and it can extract and remember relevant information from them. This info is used to provide you with helpful summaries but it can also be used to add events to your calendar based on specific requests. One of the coolest Alexa Plus features for busy families is that you can forward emails from your child's school and then it will break down all of the essential information for you. For example, if there's an upcoming school event, you'll be able to ask if you need to bring anything beforehand. Alexa Plus isn't just for adults and at its unveiling, Amazon showed off two new features for Amazon Kids+ subscribers that should make learning a bit more fun. With Explore with Alexa, kids will be able to ask Alexa Plus all sorts of questions about geography, biology and more, and she'll respond in a conversational tone. While this will be a great help with homework, it can also help satisfy your child's curiosity so that you don't have to field all of the questions they come up with. If your kids are tired of the same old books, by using Stories with Alexa, they can have Amazon's virtual assistant make up new ones for them. This starts with a prompt like "Alexa, create a story about a bearded dragon that plays the saxophone." Then from there, Alexa will ask them additional questions to fill out their story further. Like the rest of these new Alexa Plus features, these two will be available on Amazon's larger smart displays. As of now, it doesn't look like the Echo Show 5 Kids will work with the company's improved virtual assistant but that could change in the future or we might potentially see a Kids edition of the more powerful Echo Show 8 in the future. Just like with the best Alexa skills, integrations can add even more functionality to Alexa Plus and Amazon plans to work with tens of thousands of partners and developers to make this happen. By using Experts and deep knowledge integration, Alexa Plus will be able to work behind the scenes to seamlessly coordinate multiple services for you and these integrations are done directly through APIs. One example Amazon provided at its event was having Alexa Plus make a dinner reservation for two using OpenTable, texting these plans to a friend and then being able to book an Uber for them so that they can meet you for lunch. That's not all, though, as Alexa+ will be able to use its AI agent capabilities to do things on your behalf. For instance, if you need a recommendation for a repair person, Alexa Plus will be able to find one for you, send a request to them and then book a service appointment for them to come to your home to take a look at a broken appliance. AI agents will also be able to help you create new things and Alexa Plus already has an integration with the AI music generator Suno. At its event, Amazon showed off a demo where Suno was used to turn a simple, creative request into a complete song complete with lyrics, vocals and instruments. Capabilities like this will continue to expand too, as Amazon showed off a preview of its new Alexa I Multi-Agent SDK that will allow brands to showcase their agents alongside Alexa. So far, everything Amazon showed off about Alexa Plus has us pretty excited. Not only are your existing smart displays getting a ton of new features and functionality, but you won't have to add another monthly subscription to your budget since Alexa Plus is included with Prime. Amazon Prime has seen several price hikes in the past, so we're a bit worried that another one could be coming down the road. For now, though, you just need a compatible Echo Show smart display and a Prime membership to get started with Alexa Plus. Amazon's upgraded virtual assistant will roll out first in the U.S. but we haven't heard anything about availability in other countries yet. However, we likely will once the rollout begins. As someone with multiple Echo Show smart displays and an active Prime membership, I can't wait to dive into all these new features and test them out for myself. Stay tuned to Tom's Guide as we plan on putting Alexa+ through its paces as soon as we get access ourselves.

Amazon Unveils More Conversational AI Assistant Alexa+, Free for Prime Subscribers

Remembers preferences, suggests tailored content, and provides proactive alerts. Amazon has introduced Alexa+, its next-generation AI assistant powered by generative AI, offering a more conversational, intuitive, and proactive user experience. The new assistant features deeper personalization, advanced automation, and improved integration across multiple services, including OpenTable, Vagaro, Amazon, Uber, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Ticketmaster, and others. "Alexa+ is more conversational, smarter, personalized -- and she helps you get things done. She keeps you entertained, helps you learn, keeps you organized, summarizes complex topics, and can converse about virtually anything," Panos Panay, SVP of Devices and Services at Amazon, said in a blog post on Wednesday. Also Read: Amazon Invests USD 4 Billion More in Anthropic, Expands AI Partnership Amazon stated that conversations with Alexa+ now feel more expansive and natural, making it easier to interact with. "Whether you're speaking in half-formed thoughts, using colloquial expressions, or exploring complex ideas, Alexa+ understands what you mean, and responds like a trusted assistant. It feels less like interacting with technology, and more like engaging with an insightful friend," Amazon said. Built on Amazon's large language models (LLMs) and powered by Amazon Bedrock, Alexa+ orchestrates tasks across thousands of services and devices -- a feat that, according to Amazon, "has never been done at this scale." To achieve this, the company has developed a concept called "experts" -- groups of systems, capabilities, APIs, and instructions designed to accomplish specific tasks for customers. With these experts, Alexa+ can control smart home products, make reservations, order groceries, track deliveries, and even autonomously navigate the web to complete tasks. For instance, it can book a repair appointment via Thumbtack without user intervention. With this, Amazon said Alexa+ also introduces agentic capabilities. Also Read: Amazon Invests USD 110 Million to Boost AI Research with Free Access to Trainium Chips The new Alexa is designed to remember user preferences, from dietary restrictions to past purchases. It can suggest recipes, track events, and provide tailored recommendations. Additionally, Alexa+ offers proactive alerts, such as traffic updates or sales on saved shopping items, Amazon said in a blog post. Alexa+ works across multiple platforms, including Echo devices, smartphones, cars, and desktops. Users can upload documents, emails, or photos for Alexa+ to summarize, organize, or add to calendars. Also Read: AWS to Invest USD 11 Billion in Georgia to Boost AI and Cloud Infrastructure Amazon emphasized privacy and security, centralizing controls in the Alexa Privacy Dashboard and leveraging AWS infrastructure for protection. Alexa+ will roll out in the US in phases, prioritizing Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 users during the early access period. Alexa+ will cost USD 19.99 per month, but Amazon Prime members will receive it for free.

Alexa Is Getting an AI Upgrade

Amazon's Alexa+ is bringing AI to the familiar digital assistant. Are you ready to pay for Amazon Alexa? With the addition of AI to the assistant, Amazon thinks you are. Announced in a closed-doors meeting with press and business partners today, Amazon's Alexa+ is bringing AI to the familiar digital assistant, plus a new $20/month price tag. The secret? If you have Prime, you'll get access to it at no extra charge. As with standard Alexa, the assistant is built around vocal prompts, but is designed to be more conversational and personalized, and will supposedly be able to act on your behalf and integrate with partner apps including Hulu, Uber, and Xbox. It also enables new features in Amazon's own apps, like Prime video or Ring, and should make smart home integration simpler. Amazon didn't go over every potential use case at its event, seemingly because there are so many, but a few key ones include: While that's all set to make Alexa much more powerfuln (assuming it works) it's also not too different from existing AI solutions. Where Alexa is set to go a step beyond is in taking action, in a way similar to what was promised by the Rabbit R1. Amazon says you could use it to order groceries, find event tickets, set up reservations, or book an Uber, among other things. That's thanks to those partner integrations mentioned earlier. Supposedly, there are dozens of these partnerships set up and ready to go, including various news outlets like Time or The Washington Post, which should help make the assistant's answers more accurate. As for actions, while it's said to be hands-free, it seems like Alexa will ask for confirmation before actually making any final purchases or bookings. Similarly, Alexa+ is also set to integrate with Amazon Kids+, using AI to converse with kids using facts or interactive games and stories. Amazon promises "extra safety guardrails for younger users," although details are still light at the moment. As is a lot about Alexa+. Amazon is promising transparency and privacy here, accessible via the Alexa Privacy dashboard, and has been surprisingly open about the technology powering Alexa+ -- it's a combination of in-house models and Anthropic. But it'll be a bit before you get to try out the upgraded assistant, with early access set for sometime next month. One surprise is that there are no new devices here, with Alexa+ instead being compatible with "almost every" shipped Echo device, although the company says that early access will come first to the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21. Supposedly, the web and a new phone app will also get Alexa+, although it's unclear when. Personally, I've always been a little skeptical of Alexa and its always-on microphones, and I can't say Alexa+ is doing anything to move the needle for me. But I also haven't seen much of it yet. I tend to be a bit more practical-minded when it comes to what I'm willing to use AI for, so we'll see if Alexa+ can change my mind when I finally get my hands on it -- its ability to automatically turn emails into calendar events does seem pretty handy, assuming you're fine handing that data over to Amazon, and that Amazon makes it easy to do so.

Amazon Reveals Alexa+ with Better Language Processing, Desktop Chatbot, and More

Amazon's Alexa assistant has struggled with both complex and basic tasks for a long time. Amazon has now revealed its revamped Alexa+ assistant, intended to be "smarter, more conversational, more capable, and free with Prime." Alexa+ is a new upgraded version of Alexa supercharged by generative AI, which should be significantly better at understanding natural language, in much the same way Google recently overhauled its Assistant with Gemini AI. Amazon says it should become personalized over time as it learns your schedule and preferences, perform actions on your behalf, and provide information. Alexa is supposed to be able to do all those things already, but hey, better late than never. New Features in Alexa+ One of the main upgrades here is that you can more easily share information with Alexa to build up its knowledge base. You'll be able to do that from your desktop web browser, the mobile app, or even by forwarding emails. Amazon said in its announcement, "For example, you could send a picture of a live music schedule, and have Alexa add the details to your calendar, [or] upload study materials and ask Alexa to turn them into a quiz." Alexa+ also introduces "agentic capabilities" that sound similar to current Alexa skills, but supposedly able to complete more actions on its own. Amazon said, "Alexa+ will be able to navigate the web, use Thumbtack to discover the relevant service provider, authenticate, arrange the repair, and come back to tell you it's done -- there's no need to supervise or intervene." Again, we've heard 'Alexa can do things for you' many times before now, and it hasn't really been true beyond ordering products from Amazon, so color me skeptical. Alexa+ will also be available in a web browser, through a similar chatbot interface as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini. That could make Alexa much more useful as a shared database and resource that works across all your devices, instead of the current version, which is more like a web browser and media player. Amazon's web apps and websites tend to be pretty awful, though, so we'll have to wait and see if the Alexa web app is functional. How Alexa+ Works Behind the scenes, Alexa+ runs on Amazon's Bedrock server infrastructure and selects "the best model for any given task" automatically. That includes models from Anthropic, the company behind the Claude assistant, and Amazon Nova models. Presumably, basic tasks won't go through a large language model at all, so we don't need another nuclear power plant's worth of energy just to order groceries, but Amazon didn't elaborate on that point. Amazon also said in a press release, "We built Alexa+ the same way we do any Amazon product -- we set out to create something we think customers will love, while also designing it to protect their privacy and security, and provide them with the transparency and control they expect from Amazon. For example, we centralize important information such as your interactions with Alexa+ and various settings into the Alexa Privacy dashboard." The Voice modes in ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are generally better at understanding human speech than the current Alexa assistant. I would expect a generative AI-powered Alexa to have similar abilities, and it should continue evolving over time as the underlying LLMs improve at a rapid rate. Rollout & Availability Alexa+ is being sold as a $20 per month subscription, but it's free for all Amazon Prime members. Amazon Prime is currently priced at $15 per month or $139 per year, or even less if you are a student, so it's actually cheaper than Alexa+ on its own. You can sign up to be notified when Alexa+ is available on Amazon's website. It will start rolling out in the United States "in the next few weeks" across the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, but should eventually be available to most (if not all) Alexa devices. Source: Amazon (live blog, press release)

Amazon Is Giving Alexa the Power of AI, But Are You Willing to Pay for It?

I'm Finally Leaving Google Chrome, and These Are the 4 Reasons Why Amazon just introduced a new Alexa service at its 2025 Devices & Services event, giving its home assistant the power of AI. This makes Alexa much smarter, giving its smart speakers some new superpowers. Introducing Alexa+, Powered by AI ChatGPT's launch in 2022 made AI much more accessible to the average person, so it's just a matter of time before someone puts it in a smart speaker. Google is one of the first companies to put it on a smart speaker, integrating Gemini AI on some Google Nest models. However, it's still in the testing phase and has several limitations. So, Amazon just beat the search giant to a wider release with the launch of Alexa+. If you have an Alexa speaker, you could upgrade it to Alexa+ which will give you a few key advantages. Amazon says that by adding this feature to your smart speaker, it'll be much easier to talk to your Alexa. That's because it understands you better by using AI models like Amazon Nova and Anthropic Claude via Amazon Bedrock. So, even if you pause and think, use colloquial expressions, and give complex commands, Alexa+ should be able to understand you like any other adult. Amazon also created a feature called "experts" which are "groups of systems, capabilities, APIs, and instructions that accomplish specific types of tasks for customers." This will allow you to easily use your IoT appliances, access your apps, get reminders, and more, straight from the speaker. Aside from that, it also remembers you and your family's preferences and consider that with everything that it does. If you tell Alexa+ your allergies, it will store that information to avoid suggesting menu items that you cannot eat when your order food in the future. Related 16 Alexa Routines for Every Part of Your Day Make Alexa Routines work with you with this list of options that span everything from wake up to bedtime. Posts You Need to Pay if You Want the Smarter Version of Alexa All these features and more are great for introducing AI to many people, especially as there are over 600 million Alexa devices around the world. However, this service isn't free -- Alexa+ costs $19.99 a month if you're signing up just for it, which could be quite steep. But if you're already an Amazon Prime member, the Alexa+ subscription will automatically come with it, adding more Amazon Prime benefits that you might've overlooked. This makes Amazon Prime membership practically a steal, especially as it only costs $14.99 a month in the US; about $5 cheaper than just the Alexa+ subscription. It's much more affordable, too, if you're a college student or young adult (ages 18-24), with the monthly price falling to just $7.49. Note that Alexa+ will initially be available in the US only, and that its release will be rolled out slowly. Amazon says that Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices will be the first to get this feature in the coming months as part of its early access period. But if you really want to try out these AI capabilities as soon as possible, Amazon says that you should buy one of these devices now and sign-up at the New Alexa page to be considered for early access.

A new Alexa AI is coming: What it will cost and when you can try it

If you've had it up to here with dumb responses from Alexa, get ready for a big change. At a glitzy event in New York City on Wednesday, Amazon unveiled-again-its AI-enhanced and "completely re-architectured" Alexa, and we'll all soon have a chance to kick the tires ourselves. Starting next month, Amazon will kick off a public preview for the new Alexa, which it's calling Alexa+. The public preview will begin gradually, with more users gradually being added to the group. This news is part of TechHive's in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers. The revamped Alexa will indeed cost extra: think $19.99 a month, in line with paid "plus" memberships for ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude. That said, Alexa+ will be free for Amazon Prime members. Amazon has previously promised that "classic" Alexa would remain available for free, but there was no mention of that during today's presentation. The new AI-enhanced Alexa (which will offer new phone and web apps) will have a variety of tricks up its sleeve, including "agentic" abilities (autonomous AI is the new hotness in artificial intelligence). For example, Amazon says Alexa+ will be able to go shopping, book travel tickets, text contacts, suggest recipes, and fine-tune your smart home routines, weaving all those tasks within a single interaction. Most importantly, the revamped Alexa will be able to "reason and take action," such as following up on conversations to set reminders. During a demo, Amazon devices head Panos Panay chatted with Alexa+, carrying on an animated conversation reminiscent of ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode. The new Alexa also showed off its multimodal capabilities by "looking" at a live video feed of the assembled audience at the presentation, and then describing the scene, the size of the crowd, and the "wowed" reaction. Panay said Alexa+ will be able to create routines based on natural language prompts. He also showed how the new Alexa could pluck the music track "Shallow," from the A Star is Born soundtrack, off Amazon Music in response to a vaguely worded query, and then asked Alexa to "jump to that scene" in the movie streamed on Amazon Prime Video. (It worked.) Showing off a new Alexa Ring integration, Panay asked Alexa+ "what's happening at my house," and Alexa promptly put up a live feed of a Ring security camera on the screen, accurately describing it what was happening. Other notable smart home and home entertainment integrations include Wyze, iRobot, Govee, Shark, Sonos, and Vizio. With Alexa+, "there's no more Alexa speak," Panay promised. We also got a peek at the Alexa+ user interface, including a new "expressive" blue animation that will replace the classic Alexa blue line) that changes shape as you talk. Other features including the ability to share lengthy documents with Alexa+, which the AI can remember, analyze, and summarize. (Experienced LLM users will be familiar with such "RAG" functionality.) The new Alexa can also do things like add calendar events based on information in the files shared with it. Amazon also promised new Alexa+ features for children, showing a video of the new assistant telling on-the-fly stories and otherwise engaging with the tykes. We also saw Alexa+ answering questions about sports and other current events. Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon's Alexa and Echo divisions, explained how Alexa+ is powered using a mixture of models from Amazon and Anthropic. Alexa+ can also switch models in the background depending on the task at hand, Rausch said. We'll still getting the scoop on Alexa's new AI-infused abilities, so stand by for more details on that score; plus, my hands-on impressions. Amazon first showed off the new Alexa during its September 2023 hardware event, and at the time it promised a public preview "early" in 2024. Instead, the year came and went without a public beta for the revamped Alexa. What we did get were insider accounts of a hallucination-prone Alexa that gave lengthy and frequently inaccurate answers, while also having trouble with basic smart home capabilities. Of course, those AI-related troubles aren't unique to Amazon. Google has taken a careful approach when it comes to allowing Gemini to interact with smart devices, while Apple has yet to open its Home app to Apple Intelligence.

Amazon debuts Alexa+, its next-generation AI assistant

Why it matters: Amazon has been working for several years to modernize Alexa, though the effort has been bumpy as the company looks to maximize compatibility with the past. The big picture: Amazon and Apple -- early players in the voice assistant space -- have been struggling to merge their older products with the latest generative AI. Follow the money: Alexa+ will be available in late March and cost $19.99 per month on its own -- but it's free for Amazon Prime customers. State of play: In demos at a press event in New York, Amazon executives showed Alexa+ doing a variety of tasks, including ordering groceries, analyzing documents and making up stories. Zoom in: Alexa+ will work with a number of service partners, including GrubHub, OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Yelp, Thumbtack, Vagaro, Fodor's, TripAdvisor, Uber, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and Max. Between the lines: Amazon said Alexa+ uses a number of AI models, including Amazon's own Nova and ones from Amazon's close partner Anthropic, among others.

Amazon's new Alexa+ uses generative AI to personalize conversations and automate tasks

Amazon unveiled Alexa+, a new service that integrates generative AI natively into the company's longtime voice assistant -- promising free-flowing conversations, plus the ability to learn user preferences over time to personalize the experience, and autonomously handle tasks such as travel arrangements and activity planning. Alexa+ will be free to Amazon Prime members, and $19.99/month on its own. The company announced the news Wednesday morning in New York City. "You can also use Alexa+ anywhere you want, from your favorite Echo devices and the Alexa mobile app to an all-new web browser experience," Amazon says in a live blog from the launch. "Alexa+ will remember the context of your conversations so that you can seamlessly pick up where you left off as you go about your day." Alexa+ uses AI models from Amazon and its key AI partner, Anthropic. The updates include a new user interface for Amazon's Echo Show, with a screen that adapts based on the proximity of a user to the device, with a customized home screen that includes a "For You" pane and smart home controls. Alexa+ features also include natural language controls, such as the ability to move music to different Alexa devices in the house. Amazon gave the example of saying, "play the music everywhere, but don't wake the baby," where Alexa+ would know not to play music on the device in the baby's room. Amazon says the new service "will start rolling out in the U.S. in the next few weeks, and subsequently in waves in the coming months starting with households with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21." Alexa faces strong competition from Google Assistant, which is deeply integrated across the Android ecosystem and continues to refine its conversational AI capabilities. Apple's Siri, though sometimes criticized for lagging behind, benefits from the massive iPhone user base and ongoing improvements in iOS. Meanwhile, the company has been under pressure to make using Alexa more like interacting with OpenAI's ChatGPT voice mode and other AI chatbots. One challenge has been Alexa's underlying infrastructure, relying on different services and apps depending on the nature of the user's request, leading to a more disjointed experience. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy opened the event with an overview of the company's AI strategy, including its own Nova artificial intelligence models. For more than a year, Jassy has said that Amazon's vision is to build "the world's best personal assistant," noting in the past that the advent of large language models would make that more feasible. This has now changed, according to the company. "The rearchitecture of all of Alexa has happened. We're pumped about it," said Panos Panay, Amazon's senior vice president of Devices and Services, using his trademark term from his days leading the Microsoft Surface business, according to a live blog by The Verge from the New York City launch event. Amazon describes the technical revamp in this post. A prior generative AI capability for Alexa, previewed in September 2023, was called "Let's Chat." This was a special mode for open-ended conversations with Alexa, whereas the new capability is built into the broader experience. It was never released publicly, and the Alexa team has been taking a different approach since Panay took over.

Here’s Everything Alexa+ Can Supposedly Do

Alexa+ promises to be your AI assistant, able to look at your cameras and make ordering food a little too easy. Amazon’s Alexa is finally getting its promised AI makeover with Alexa+, and already the online retail giant is promising the moon by baking in LLMs into practically every one of its user-end products. Will Amazon finally offer the first real AI assistant that every company and their corporate mother has promised for the last two years? Perhaps, but that depends on whether you are willing to dive headfirst into Amazon’s hardware and software ecosystem. Amazon on Wednesday showed us a slew of promised features. Amazon said the chatbot won’t just talk to you about your problems or offer bad pizza joint recommendations. It will interact with your interconnected smart home devices to easily set routines or sift through footage from your outdoor cameras. Amazon's AI has image recognition capabilities that allow it to comprehend what happens in front of your Ring cameras or comprehend your emails or recipes. It also has the ability to work with Prime Video and cast to Fire TV, which could help the Amazon-owned James Bond infiltrate your screens big and small. Alexa+ will come out for some select users next month and will see a staggered release for all users. If you have Amazon Prime already, you’ll get access, but otherwise it will cost $20 per month. The AI will operate on Echo Show devices at first, including the more-recent Show 15 and 21, before supporting Amazon Fire TVs. Support on third-party devices sporting Amazon’s OS will come at a later date. There’s a lot going on, so let’s break it down. In the next few weeks, a reconfigured Alexa.com will host the company’s AI-powered assistant. This will work in tandem with a revised Alexa app, which will replace the current application. Amazon did not show off much of what the UI on this website or app might look like, though the company demoed some features for controlling the food ordering capabilities similar to how it works on Echo. The app and website should be rolling out alongside the staggered, wider Alexa+ release. Alexa users should be able to upload any number of documents, emails, screenshots, or hand-written notes to Amazon’s AI for it to “remember†any dates, people, or pertinent details for you. This is similar to features in Google’s Gemini, but you can also specifically ask the AI to “remember†certain events for you to call up at a later time. The easiest way to give the AI access to these documents is by sharing them to the Alexa app whenever the AI update arrives. Amazon told us you should be able to share emails associated with your Amazon account, though you can also connect separate accounts through the app. Amazon promised Alexa+ won’t just work with Amazon products, but “tens of thousands†of apps and services. Amazon counts news organizations like the Associated Press and Reuters among that number, so the actual number of APK-connected apps is far fewer than that. Still, included are apps like Uber, OpenTable, Thumbtack, Vizio, Tidal, Xbox, and many, many more. It’s unclear what exact connections each app may entail, but Amazon did show how it could book a car trip on Uber and set up a calendar appointment through Thumbtack, all through the same UI. If I want to make a pizza at home, Amazon’s Alexa+ can do the hard part of searching for ingredients. Asking Alexa+ for ingredients first takes you to a separate cut-out menu, then as you talk about your wants and desires, Alexa will form a list of possible ingredients. Amazon told us this defaults to what you normally prefer to order based on your Amazon account, but you can modify numbers and brands either with your voice or by selecting each product that comes up. The AI was surprisingly capable at figuring out when I wanted a non-cheap bottle of olive oil or if I wanted to make my own pizza dough rather than muddle through with store-brand pre-made dough. In one demo, Amazon’s VP of devices and services, Panos Panay, showed how you can ask Alexa+ to play audio through specific speakers set up around your room. This was accomplished with two sections of Echo Speakers, though it should supposedly work with any range of smart home speakers. If you’ve already gone through the trouble of segmenting your home with various smart displays, smart lights, and any number of interconnected devices, then Alexa+ promises to make setting routines far easier. In a demo, Amazon showed how one could set a timer to turn down lights at a certain time of day or set mood lighting for certain scenarios. The AI should be able to comprehend what you want even if you don’t know the exact names of different lighting fixtures around the home. This may make it easier for people who didn’t set up those devices to change their routines. The Amazon Nova group of AI foundation models includes a fair amount of image and video vision capabilities. This works best with Amazon-owned Ring products, as the AI can not only comprehend what’s happening in real time, but it can spool back through recorded video if you wanted to know if a package arrived or if a member of your household remembered to walk the dog that day. This imaging capabilities will also work with the built-in cameras on Echo Show products or any interconnected camera setup, though company representatives told us the AI may not have the ability to look back through footage on third-party devices. Those of us who can’t seem to build a coherent thought at the end of a work day may get a little help from Amazon’s new AI products. Alexa+ can supposedly help you figure out what movie scene you’re thinking of. For example, if you ask it for the name of the movie with the “sparkling vampires,†it should bring up one of the four Twilight movies. While Amazon’s Echo devices will be first to use Alexa+, those devices can still cast your music or video content to a FireTV without any need to pick up a remote. At the start, Alexa+ won’t have any Shazam-like capabilities to identify music based on what you’re listening to. The company said that’s something it's looking at for a future addition. Amazon Kids+ subscribers will get new features with “Stories by Alexa†and “Explore with Alexa.†This essentially adds a chatbot to the company’s existing “storytelling†interface, so if you wanted your Echo devices to offer an AI-generated bedtime story of a lizard wizard with accompanying ugly AI-generated art, then it should be capable of that. Otherwise, the AI should have the ability to answer questions to satiate your children’s curiosity, though judging by previous AI chatbots, we are hesitant to trust its accuracy or reliability.

5 things Amazon's AI-powered Alexa+ can do for you

On Wednesday, Amazon revealed to the world that the long-awaited AI-powered upgrade to its Alexa voice assistant is almost ready for primetime. Alexa+ drops for certain early-access customers starting in March for the standalone price of $19.99/mo or for free with an Amazon Prime subscription. Crucially, any Alexa-enabled device you already own can run Alexa+, and that list will soon include web browsers and a new phone app. The event where Amazon announced Alexa+ was not livestreamed to the public, but I got a chance to attend and see the new chatbot in action in limited hands-on demos. Here are five new features that stood out to me. It would be easier to list the things Alexa+ can't do, but that's not as fun. By far, the most noteworthy thing about Alexa+ is how easy it seems to talk to. Anyone who has used an older-style chatbot like the previous version of Alexa or Siri knows that you have to alter your way of speaking most of the time to get what you want. You typically can't talk to these things like you would talk to another person, or else they get confused. That doesn't seem to be the case with Alexa+, at least based on the demos I saw. It's remarkably conversational, able to sift through a somewhat rambling voice prompt and find the relevant info it needs to complete a request...most of the time. I saw Alexa+ give a public speaking pep talk on how to present a new tech product to 250 journalists, offer analysis of the Boston Red Sox offseason, and even remember dietary preferences and restrictions for someone in the user's contacts. I paid close attention to how Alexa+ receives voice prompts, and what stood out to me the most was that even if it got a name, word, or phrase wrong, it was almost always still able to logically respond to the prompt in question. Amazon focused heavily on agentic AI features for Alexa+, including the ability to draft and send text messages and emails to contacts. This is not especially new or revolutionary given the recent agentic AI explosion in the tech world, but it's still worth talking about. At the presentation, Amazon was quick to point out that tons of third-party apps, like Uber, work with Alexa+. As an example, a live stage demo was conducted where the presenter was able to make a restaurant reservation, arrange an Uber ride from the airport to the restaurant for someone he was planning to meet, and then send a text message with details about the reservation and Uber ride to the person in question. Of course, these are things you can do manually in just a few minutes, but Alexa+ gives you the ability to do it in seconds via voice prompts. Just, you know, don't rely on that too much. Your friends want to text you, not a robot. One feature that really makes Alexa+ stand out is its ability to work with documents. For instance, you can upload a PDF of your kid's soccer schedule to Alexa+, and the voice assistant can retain information from it, as well as reference that information in voice prompts later. "Alexa, when and where is my daughter's soccer game this weekend, again?" should give you a usable answer if you've uploaded the schedule. In a live stage demo, a presenter uploaded a long, arcane list of rules from her homeowner's association. She asked Alexa+ if she could legally install solar panels on her home, and instead of having to search through pages of legalese, she was able to get that information in seconds. That seems really useful -- until it gets something wrong. I didn't see that happen in person, but it's inevitable. Do you vaguely remember some details about a song you heard once or a movie you saw years ago but nothing else? Alexa+ can help out. In one demo, a presenter was able to pull up "Shallow" from the most recent adaptation of A Star Is Born by simply asking for something like "that one duet song Bradley Cooper sings." In another demo, a different presenter was able to get a list of artists and songs that sample Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight." The A Star Is Born demo had an especially flashy moment where the presenter asked to be taken to the scene in the movie that the song is from, and it instantly loaded the movie in Prime Video, right at that scene. Again, this is something you can do relatively quickly if you're good at using Google, but it's nice to have options. It's easy to see the utility in all of the above features, even if some of them arguably encourage laziness and remove the fun of finding things on your own. This one, if I may be frank, is a little bit troubling. Put simply, Alexa+ can do some of the things that parents traditionally do with their kids. Specifically, it can automatically generate bedtime stories based on voice prompts, complete with AI-generated art that looks really ugly in the way all AI-generated art usually looks. There was also a sizzle reel of kids asking Alexa+ the kinds of random, curious questions they usually ask their parents out of nowhere, like, "Do fish get lonely?" I don't know about all of that. One could argue that there are real benefits to raising your children yourself instead of asking a chatbot to do it. But if that's how you want to live, Alexa+ can handle it.

I experienced Alexa+, and here's what impressed me most | Stuff

I'll be honest - Alexa and I have had a decent but somewhat distant relationship over the years. She's good for playing music, turning off my lights, setting a kitchen timer, and telling me the weather, but beyond that, I've never fully let her into my life. That all changed when I got my hands on Alexa+ at the launch event in New York. Alexa+ is Amazon's new $19.99-per-month (or free for Prime members) AI upgrade, offering smarter and more proactive assistance. It connects to various services, handles tasks on your behalf, and, in my case, made two of my most tedious daily routines far easier - shopping lists and home monitoring. Let's start with shopping lists. I have a love-hate relationship with them. More often than not, I jot things down on my phone, scribble notes on the back of envelopes, or, in a moment of overconfidence, assume I'll remember everything I need (I won't). With Alexa+, all that chaos is gone. I can simply say, "Alexa, add milk, eggs, and coffee to my shopping list," and she does it instantly - no app-hunting, no typing. If I later realize I need flour, I can tell her to add it without needing to open a list manually. Even better, Alexa+ can suggest missing items based on past purchases and dietary preferences. When it comes time to shop, I can integrate my list directly into an Amazon Fresh order or pull it up on my phone in-store. It's a simple feature, but the convenience is game-changing. When seeing this feature in action, I was amazed at how accurate it was. You can ramble a list off, as a stream of conscious, and Alexa+ picked it up perfectly. The demo included 'Alexa, add tomatoes, six eggs, milk, ingredients for chicken tacos, actually, I need twelve eggs, orange juice, and those little boxes of raisins for my kid's lunchbox, to my shopping list' and Alexa+ picked it all up perfectly. If you're picky about brands, you can tap on an item in the list and Alexa+ will suggest similar alternatives. I found it all very impressive. The second feature that genuinely impressed me was Alexa+'s ability to summarize what's been happening around my home. I have a dog (Reggie) who loves nothing more than going in and out of the garden. With Alexa+, I wouldn't need to check my camera feeds or guess when he was last let out. I can just ask, "Alexa, has Reggie been outside today?" and she gives me a rundown based on my Ring camera and smart home devices. It's also incredibly useful for knowing if a package was delivered or if a visitor stopped by while I was out. Instead of scrolling through notifications or hours of footage, I get a quick, personalized update. If you already own an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21, you'll be among the first to get Alexa+ as it rolls out. And if you're a Prime member, you get it for free, which makes it an easy recommendation. For the first time in years, Alexa feels genuinely exciting again.

Everything announced at Amazon's Alexa event today: Alexa Plus, new Echo Show UI, and more

Amazon held its Devices and Services event today, during which it made some major announcements. Here's what you can expect from the new Alexa+. Amazon has been focused on bringing generative AI to Alexa for the past few years, hitting multiple delays in launching new features that the company first announced in September 2023. The delayed Alexa 2.0 was poised for a 2025 release, and Amazon just wrapped up an event where it made big announcements for the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant. Amid rumors of Alexa 2.0 shortcomings, Amazon skipped its 2024 Devices and Services event, where the company typically announces new Alexa features and hardware devices. Instead, it hosted an event today and unveiled Alexa Plus, the voice assistant's generative AI features, and finally put an ETA on its launch. Also: 7 exciting AI features coming with Alexa Plus (and what Amazon devices support it) "Up until a couple of years ago, it was pretty difficult to invent with AI, and that changed with the arrival of foundational models and generative AI. This made the technology much more accessible, so people can see the power and magic of what generative AI can do," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. The event took place today, Feb. 26, in New York City and was Panos Panay's first since joining the Devices and Services division after his Microsoft exit. But aside from new Alexa features, Amazon also made other announcements. Giving Alexa the power of generative AI was already expected to be the star announcement of today's event -- and it was. During the last Devices and Services event in 2023, Amazon announced a gen AI-powered 'Alexa+' or Alexa Plus and a new user interface coming to an Echo device near you, and the company is now making it more real than ever before. Panay likened the evolution of Alexa and its obstacle-ridden road toward generative AI to a symphony warming up before a concert and how the conductor raises the baton to transform "disconnected sounds into a masterpiece." Alexa Plus will reply with a more natural cadence, handle multiple prompts in a session, and generate content instead of providing canned answers to questions. It will also feature greater customization power to remember user preferences (think like ChatGPT's Memory) for more productive user interactions, learning "the rhythm of your life," according to Panay. Also: 10 key reasons AI went mainstream overnight - and what happens next Aside from all of this, Alexa+ has contextual awareness, so it can hold long conversations and remember what you asked before your last questions instead of giving canned responses from Alexa Answers contributors. It can also read and process documents for you to answer questions, like school calendars or an HOA CC&R document, as Amazon demoed. The new Alexa Plus will begin rolling out next month to some users, with a gradual rollout after that. Amazon said little about the new Alexa after the 2023 event, with rumors suggesting that the company was repeatedly forced to delay its gen AI launch due to deficient performance. Thankfully, Amazon appears to have finally smoothed out its Alexa 2.0. While Alexa dominates the US market for virtual assistants, preferred by two-thirds of Americans, it has also recently fallen behind other assistants, including Google and, most recently, Siri. The release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in recent years triggered a tidal wave of generative AI that pushed other virtual assistants ashore, while Alexa appears to have sunk to the bottom of the ocean -- until now. Also: The best Alexa smart speaker I've tested isn't an Echo (and it's 20% off) The new breed of gen AI-powered virtual assistants -- ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot powered by OpenAI's technologies, Google Assistant powered by Gemini, and Siri powered by Apple LLMs -- have surged ahead in the past two years. We can only wait to see how well the new Alexa Plus, powered by Amazon Bedrock models, including Nova and Anthropic, will perform in real-world scenarios. Amazon's Alexa 2.0 will work behind a subscription service that will cost $20 monthly but will be free for Prime subscribers. A subscription-based system has been rumored for about a year, so this didn't come as a surprise, but the rumors said it was planned to cost between $5-$10 monthly, not $20. At this cost, Alexa Plus is the same price as a ChatGPT Plus subscription. Also: The best AI chatbots The "Classic Alexa" will still be available for users who prefer not to pay the monthly fee, though it's not known how long Amazon plans to maintain the current version. Amazon also announced a new revamped platform for the Echo Show with the launch of Alexa+. The new look in the Echo Show interface seems like it will be available in the larger Echo Show displays for now. Alexa Plus will also have integrations with your Ring subscriptions to provide a new experience on the Echo Show. Also: The best Alexa devices The redesigned Echo Show user interface features a sleeker layout for your favorite widgets and a cohesive look throughout the screen. Alexa Plus is bringing adaptive display to the large Echo Show devices, the Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 21, to show a simplified view from afar that transitions to a customized screen when you approach the device.

Amazon unveils an AI-powered version of its voice assistant Alexa

"I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. Amazon unveiled an AI-boosted version of its popular voice assistant Alexa that it says will "have more personality," check a user's tone, and even plan romantic dates. The generative-AI powered assistant, dubbed "Alexa+" will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks. But regular customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of around €19 for the revamped voice assistant unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices. At a media event held in New York, Amazon executives showed off the update to the 10-year-old digital assistant with new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices. The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user, such as dietary preferences or allergies, the more it's used. "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. At the event, Panos Panay, Amazon's vice president of devices & services, listed off the other things the voice assistant can now do, such as create study plans, text a babysitter, and call an Uber ride for a friend. Leader in the voice assistants market He and other company executives also said Alexa can fetch videos from Ring cameras, such as checking whether a user's dog was walked that day, and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails, and other documents shared with it. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Panay said. Alexa is built into products such as smart speakers, Amazon's Fire TVs, and earbuds. The Seattle-based tech giant launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 alongside its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands. Panay said Amazon has sold more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices and that user engagement grew 20 per cent last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown Alexa holds the largest market share among voice assistants. The revamped Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the generative AI start-up the tech giant has poured billions of euros into. Alexa+ has a "model-agnostic system," allowing it to select the best AI model for the tasks it wants to complete, said Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice president for Alexa and Echo. Amazon says it will kick off "early access" of Alexa+, currently only available in English, in the US next month, starting with users who own or purchase some of its newest Echo Show devices, which feature onscreen displays of Alexa responses. After opting in, those eligible users will then see Alexa+ start working across compatible devices, as well as on their web browser and app, the company said. Amazon will later roll out the update in "waves" internationally and to more devices. Some of the new features are only built for products with screens. Alexa+ will not reach certain older Echo models but Amazon says owners of those devices can continue to use the original assistant. And users who simply prefer using the original Alexa can continue doing so, per a FAQ from the company. An AI assistant able to 'sense' the surrounding mood Amazon's announcement came more than a year after the company teased an early version of an AI-infused Alexa at a media event held to show off new devices. At the time, Amazon had said it was working on a "speech-to-speech" model that would allow Alexa to exhibit humanlike attributes, such as laughter and phrases like "uh-huh" during conversations. During the demo on Wednesday, Amazon highlighted features it had previously kept under lid. In one exchange, Panay showed the new Alexa a video of the crowd in the room to test a feature that apparently allows it to sense the surrounding mood. Panay asked Alexa+ if the crowed "looked pumped" to which it responded the room full of journalists were "paying attention to you and excited". Like its predecessor, Alexa+ is enabled when users say the voice assistant's name but executives on Wednesday said users now only have to say that wake word once before having a prolonged, back-and-forth exchange. Still, demonstrators would occasionally say "Alexa" again if it seemed like the voice assistant didn't catch something. Amazon competes in the smart speaker market with other tech giants, including Apple and Google. Though it has had success in selling devices, the company's other goal - driving Amazon purchases through Alexa - has been more challenging to pull off. Amazon has said Alexa customers have used their device to shop. However, many rely on it mostly for menial tasks, such as playing music, asking questions, or checking the weather. A subscription fee for the revamped Alexa will allow the company to offset costs related to AI development and help its devices operations become more profitable.

Everything Amazon announced at its Alexa event today: Alexa Plus, Echo Show UI, and more

Amazon held its Devices and Services event today, during which it made some major announcements. Here's what you can expect from the new Alexa+. Amazon has been focused on bringing generative AI to Alexa for the past few years, hitting multiple delays in launching new features that the company first announced in September 2023. The delayed Alexa 2.0 was poised for a 2025 release, and Amazon just wrapped up an event where it made big announcements for the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant. Amid rumors of Alexa 2.0 shortcomings, Amazon skipped its 2024 Devices and Services event, where the company typically announces new Alexa features and hardware devices. Instead, it hosted an event today and unveiled Alexa Plus, the voice assistant's generative AI features, and finally put an ETA on its launch. Also: 7 exciting AI features coming with Alexa Plus (and what Amazon devices support it) "Up until a couple of years ago, it was pretty difficult to invent with AI, and that changed with the arrival of foundational models and generative AI. This made the technology much more accessible, so people can see the power and magic of what generative AI can do," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said. The event took place today, Feb. 26, in New York City and was Panos Panay's first since joining the Devices and Services division after his Microsoft exit. But aside from new Alexa features, Amazon also made other announcements. Giving Alexa the power of generative AI was already expected to be the star announcement of today's event -- and it was. During the last Devices and Services event in 2023, Amazon announced a gen AI-powered 'Alexa+' or Alexa Plus and a new user interface coming to an Echo device near you, and the company is now making it more real than ever before. Panay likened the evolution of Alexa and its obstacle-ridden road toward generative AI to a symphony warming up before a concert and how the conductor raises the baton to transform "disconnected sounds into a masterpiece." Alexa Plus will reply with a more natural cadence, handle multiple prompts in a session, and generate content instead of providing canned answers to questions. It will also feature greater customization power to remember user preferences (think like ChatGPT's Memory) for more productive user interactions, learning "the rhythm of your life," according to Panay. Also: 10 key reasons AI went mainstream overnight - and what happens next Aside from all of this, Alexa+ has contextual awareness, so it can hold long conversations and remember what you asked before your last questions instead of giving canned responses from Alexa Answers contributors. It can also read and process documents for you to answer questions, like school calendars or an HOA CC&R document, as Amazon demoed. The new Alexa Plus will begin rolling out next month to some users, with a gradual rollout after that. Amazon said little about the new Alexa after the 2023 event, with rumors suggesting that the company was repeatedly forced to delay its gen AI launch due to deficient performance. Thankfully, Amazon appears to have finally smoothed out its Alexa 2.0. While Alexa dominates the US market for virtual assistants, preferred by two-thirds of Americans, it has also recently fallen behind other assistants, including Google and, most recently, Siri. The release of OpenAI's ChatGPT in recent years triggered a tidal wave of generative AI that pushed other virtual assistants ashore, while Alexa appears to have sunk to the bottom of the ocean -- until now. Also: The best Alexa smart speaker I've tested isn't an Echo The new breed of gen AI-powered virtual assistants -- ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot powered by OpenAI's technologies, Google Assistant powered by Gemini, and Siri powered by Apple LLMs -- have surged ahead in the past two years. We can only wait to see how well the new Alexa Plus, powered by Amazon Bedrock models, including Nova and Anthropic, will perform in real-world scenarios. Amazon's Alexa 2.0 will work behind a subscription service that will cost $20 monthly but will be free for Prime subscribers. A subscription-based system has been rumored for about a year, so this didn't come as a surprise, but the rumors said it was planned to cost between $5-$10 monthly, not $20. At this cost, Alexa Plus is the same price as a ChatGPT Plus subscription. Also: The best AI chatbots The "Classic Alexa" will still be available for users who prefer not to pay the monthly fee, though it's not known how long Amazon plans to maintain the current version. Amazon also announced a new revamped platform for the Echo Show with the launch of Alexa+. The new look in the Echo Show interface seems like it will be available in the larger Echo Show displays for now. Alexa Plus will also have integrations with your Ring subscriptions to provide a new experience on the Echo Show. Also: The best Alexa devices The redesigned Echo Show user interface features a sleeker layout for your favorite widgets and a cohesive look throughout the screen. Alexa Plus is bringing adaptive display to the large Echo Show devices, the Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 21, to show a simplified view from afar that transitions to a customized screen when you approach the device.

Amazon Alexa+ announced -- here's everything it can do

Today at an Alexa event in New York, Amazon announced a significant overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant, integrating advanced generative AI capabilities to enhance user interaction. According to Amazon, Alexa+ has a few core aspects. This development signifies a strategic shift for Amazon, which has invested heavily in Alexa since its 2014 debut, aiming to embed the assistant across various devices and boost e-commerce sales. During the Amazon event, Amazon's Panos Panay demoed the new Alexa+. The revamped assistant can do everything from book reservations and create morning routines for you. And it can remember your favorite food, movies and music. During another demo, Panay asked really long questions of Alexa, and it was like a real conversation about nearby pizza places. From there, Alexa could make reservations or order takeout for you. There's also a new feature called Alexicons, small icons at the bottom of the screen on Echo smart displays. These will change based on Alexa's reactions. If you own a Echo Show, there's also a new smart home interface that's designed to make using your devices easier. Plus, you can use Alexa to make smart home routines more easily. With over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices in use, this update presents both a substantial revenue opportunity and a considerable risk if user adoption does not meet expectations. This move comes as Amazon faces increasing competition in the AI assistant market, with rivals like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Apple's Siri making strides in integrating advanced AI functionalities. The success of this AI-driven transformation of Alexa will be pivotal in determining Amazon's position in the evolving landscape of virtual assistants.

Alexa Plus is a paid upgrade unless you are Prime

Amazon today announced Alexa Plus, a significant upgrade to its voice assistant powered by advanced AI. While Alexa Plus boasts impressive new features like booking concert tickets, ordering rides, and more natural conversations, these enhancements come at a cost: $19.99 per month. However, Amazon Prime members will get access to Alexa Plus for free. This pricing strategy seems designed to incentivize Prime memberships, as the cost of Alexa Plus alone is higher than the monthly fee for Prime, which includes a host of other benefits like free shipping, streaming services, and now, a premium AI assistant. Early access to Alexa Plus begins in late March 2025 in the United States, with a wider rollout in the following months. While Alexa Plus will work on most existing Alexa devices, the initial rollout will prioritize Echo Show devices (8, 10, 15, and 21) with touchscreen interfaces. The new features in Alexa Plus rely heavily on integration with other Amazon services. For example, the ability to jump to specific scenes in a movie requires an Amazon Music or Prime Video subscription. This further strengthens the value proposition of Prime membership and creates a more integrated ecosystem for Amazon users. The introduction of Alexa Plus marks a shift in Amazon's strategy for its voice assistant. By offering a premium tier with advanced AI capabilities, Amazon is catering to users who want the latest technology and are willing to pay for it, while also leveraging it to bolster its Prime membership base. This move could potentially redefine the smart assistant market and further solidify Amazon's position in the smart home space.

Amazon's AI-powered Alexa+ to cost non-Prime users $20 a month

The revamped voice assistant, which will launch in waves starting next month, will be free for Prime members. NEW YORK -- The much anticipated, top secret name for Amazon's new voice assistant proved to be almost the same as the old one -- just with a plus sign added. At a swank event for journalists and Amazon employees, the company on Wednesday unveiled its revamped voice assistant, Alexa+. The widely used technology has been bolstered with generative AI, the company has said, to make interacting with it feel more natural than simply repeating orders. "Removing complexity for our customers with products that make every single day better and easier," said Panos Panay, Amazon's vice president of device and services. "When you use Alexa+, you're going to feel it." The new product will be released in waves, Panay said, with some availability beginning next month. It will be free to Prime members; nonmembers will pay $19.99 a month. A Prime membership costs $14.99 per month. The fanfare around the announcement seemed aimed at dispelling any awkwardness stemming from the year and a half delay since the new AI powered "conversational" Alexa was first announced in 2023. Despite the new name and assurances of upgrades to the assistant's underlying technology, Alexa+ didn't look much different from the familiar assistant. The name for the new Alexa was a tightly held secret before the company unveiled it Wednesday. Any employees who knew it were required to sign a nondisclosure agreement, a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their job told The Washington Post. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.) The Post has reported that the new version of Alexa will not be released publicly until at least March 31. At a decade old, Alexa has become part of our culture. Long before ChatGPT and Claude, Alexa was one of the first computers that many people ever spoke to, with a spot on the counter in hundreds of millions of homes globally. The long-delayed release of an AI-powered Alexa comes at a moment when many are questioning whether the enormous resources that companies and communities are committing to AI development will actually result in any meaningful innovations that regular people are willing to pay for. Wednesday's presentation largely went smoothly, though the executives had to repeat Alexa's name multiple times in a few instances, or repeat a command before it was executed. Multiple presenters blamed bad acoustics and the chatty crowd. While the Alexa+ interaction was closer to natural conversation, many of the abilities demonstrated onstage were relatively quotidian: checking home security cameras, ordering pizza, booking a handyman, making up stories for kids, calling a cab. Alexa also appeared to make lunch reservations and monitor baseball game ticket prices without an issue. Making those daily tasks easier -- along with some more complicated ones, such as reading and summarizing complicated legal contracts -- has long been a target of tech companies. But Alexa has had partnerships for ordering food and calling taxis for years, none of which ever proved particularly popular. In addition to Alexa+ on devices, Amazon said customers will also at some point be able to interact with the technology through Alexa.com.

Amazon Unveils Alexa+, Powered by Generative A.I.

Sign up for the On Tech newsletter. Get our best tech reporting from the week. Get it sent to your inbox. Amazon's Alexa is undergoing its biggest overhaul since debuting more than a decade ago. On Wednesday, Amazon said it was giving Alexa a new brain powered by generative artificial intelligence. The update, called Alexa+, is set to make the virtual assistant more conversational and helpful in booking concert tickets, coordinating calendars and suggesting food to be delivered. Alexa+ will cost $19.99 a month or be included for customers who pay for Amazon's Prime membership program. It will roll out next month. "Until right this moment, right this moment, we have been limited by the technology," Panos Panay, the head of Amazon's devices, said at a media event. "Alexa+ is that trusted assistant that can help you conduct your life and your home." With the changes, Amazon is aiming to catch up in generative A.I. for everyday users. While the Seattle-based company has in recent months made up for lost time in A.I. products and services that it sells to businesses and other organizations, its grip on consumer A.I. products has been narrower. Alexa's upgrades, which were first teased in 2023, are Amazon's biggest bet on becoming a force in consumer A.I. The moves are also an opportunity to reboot Alexa, which has been perceived as having fallen behind other virtual assistants. In recent years, Alexa's growth in the United States has generally stagnated, according to the research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, with people turning to the assistant for only a few main tasks, such as setting timers and alarms, playing music and asking questions about the weather and sports scores. At Wednesday's event, Mr. Panay and other Amazon executives demonstrated how Alexa+ could do those things in a more personalized manner. Alexa+ could identify who was speaking and know their preferences, such as favorite sports teams, musicians and foods, they said. They also showed how a device powered by Alexa+ could suggest a restaurant, book a reservation on OpenTable, order an Uber and send a calendar invite. Alexa, which was a brainchild of Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, debuted in 2014, wowing people with its ability to take verbal requests and translate them into actions. It became a symbol of Amazon's innovation. Over the years, the company has highlighted some Alexa-connected devices, including Echo speakers, a connected microwave, wall clock and twerking teddy bear. But wild experimentation has been out since Mr. Bezos stepped down as Amazon's chief executive in 2021 and handed the company over to Andy Jassy, a longtime executive. Mr. Jassy reined in Amazon's expenses, killed some projects that appeared to have no obvious prospects and oversaw layoffs. In 2023, he hired Mr. Panay, a Microsoft executive, to oversee devices. Mr. Panay's top responsibility was to bring generative A.I. to Alexa and to unlock the promise of the all-helpful assistant that Amazon had long envisioned. Soon after Mr. Panay started, Amazon said it was rebuilding Alexa's brain with the kind of technologies that underpinned OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot. "The re-architecture of all of Alexa has happened," Mr. Panay said on Wednesday. As Amazon worked to update Alexa, competitors have leapfrogged it. ChatGPT, for example, can hold extended, in-depth conversations, with some people developing emotional -- and even sexual -- relationships with A.I. personas. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The companies have denied the claims.) Bringing generative A.I. to Alexa was not easy because the virtual assistant faces challenges that a chatbot does not. Alexa might serve multiple users in a household, for instance, so it needs to distinguish who is speaking. Amazon also wants Alexa to be at the center of people's lives and connected to multiple smart devices, which is complicated. Rohit Prasad, who heads the development of Amazon's A.I. systems, said in an interview last year that he had 23 different devices, like smart lightbulbs, controlled through his Alexa system. "It's extremely hard to do that right, with high reliability, every day," he said. Generative A.I. has also been afflicted by "hallucinations," or when the A.I. systems serve up incorrect information. Because Alexa interacts with the real world -- playing a song, ordering a product, turning off an alarm -- customers must see Alexa as a reliable assistant, Mr. Prasad said. "You cannot afford the kind of hallucination rates that can happen if you're executing your light switches," he said.

Amazon's Alexa Plus AI upgrades cost $19.99, but it's all free with Prime

Andrew Liszewski is a senior reporter who's been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2011, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. Amazon announced a new version of its smart assistant today. Alexa Plus comes with expanded capabilities, the company appeared to demonstrate, like finding concert tickets on your behalf or ordering an Uber to pick up someone at the airport. The upgraded smart assistant will also make it easier to have more natural conversations with it, but Amazon will be charging users for those new abilities for the first time. Early access to Alexa Plus will begin in late March 2025 in the United States, and the roll out will continue in subsequent waves. Subscriptions for Alexa Plus start at $19.99 per month, but it's free for Prime users. Given that Prime costs $14.99 per month, or $139 per year, it's hard to imagine anyone opting to pay for Alexa Plus on its own. Many of the smart assistant's new capabilities, such as jumping to the part of a movie where a specific song is playing, will also be dependent on services like Amazon Music and Amazon Prime Video. So to fully take advantage of Alexa Plus, a Prime membership almost seems mandatory. There were no hardware announcements made at today's Amazon event, but the company has confirmed that Alexa Plus will work on "almost every" Alexa device released so far. However, the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21, which all feature touchscreen interfaces, will be prioritized during early access.

Amazon's AI-powered Alexa+ is real and it's coming this year

After a lengthy delay, Amazon has finally jumped on the same AI chatbot bandwagon as everyone else. At an event in New York on Wednesday, Amazon lifted the veil off of the new AI-enhanced version of its Alexa voice assistant, called Alexa+. Rumors about an AI enhancement to Alexa have been swirling around for a couple of years, but the rollout faced a severe setback in 2024. Beta testing at the time revealed that the new version of Alexa had trouble executing basic commands that the old version never had a problem with. Evidently, Amazon has made enough progress on that front to reintroduce Alexa to the world. This updated version of Alexa can theoretically do all of the same things as it could before, like control smart home devices with voice prompts, but it can also take in more conversational prompts to do a variety of other things. According to Amazon Devices & Services Senior VP Panos Panay, the new and improved Alexa+ can "plan a date, book the restaurant, and be your babysitter." It seems like the upgraded assistant is designed to offer a more seamless, context-aware experience. It remembers past interactions so users can effortlessly pick up conversations where they left off, no matter which device they're using. Amazon says its next-gen Alexa model will work with Echo devices (like your Ring camera), the Alexa mobile app, and an "all-new web browser experience." On larger-screen Echo devices, Amazon has introduced a redesigned user interface with an adaptive display. From a distance, it showcases your photos and personalized content, but as you approach, it transitions into a customized Home screen with quick access to your family calendar, music recommendations, a new "For You" panel with personalized updates, and advanced smart home controls. Based on the demo at Amazon's event, asking "Alexa, what happened around the house today?" triggers a highlight reel of activity detected by your Ring cameras. It's clear that a full suite of Amazon smart home products is almost a necessity to unlock Alexa's new capabilities fully.

Amazon's new AI-powered Alexa promises to be your 'best friend in a digital world' for a monthly fee

Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a generative-AI infused Alexa that it says will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, check a user's tone and even plan romantic dates. But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls "Alexa+". However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks. At a media event held in New York City, Amazon executives showed off the update to the ten-year old digital assistant with the new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices. The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user -- such as dietary preferences or allergies -- the more it's used. "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. At the event, Panos Panay, Amazon's vice president of devices & services, listed off the other things the voice assistant can now do, such as create study plans, text a babysitter and call an Uber ride for a friend. He and other company executives also said Alexa can fetch videos from Ring cameras -- such as checking whether a user's dog was walked that day -- and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails and other documents shared with it. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Panay said. Alexa is built into products such as smart speakers, Amazon's Fire TVs and earbuds. The Seattle-based tech giant launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 alongside its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands. Panay said Amazon has sold more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices and that user engagement grew 20% last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown Alexa holds the largest market share among voice assistants. The revamped Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the generative AI startup the tech giant has poured billions into. Alexa+ has a "model-agnostic system," allowing it to select the best AI model for the tasks it wants to complete, said Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice president for Alexa and Echo. Amazon says it will kick off "early access" of Alexa+, currently only available in English, in the U.S. next month -- starting with users who own or purchase some of its newest Echo Show devices, which feature onscreen displays of Alexa responses. After opting in, those eligible users will then see Alexa+ start working across compatible devices, as well as on their web browser and app, the company said. Amazon will later roll out the update in "waves" internationally and to more devices. Some of the new features are only built for products with screens. Alexa+ will not reach certain older Echo models -- but Amazon says owners of those devices can continue to use the original assistant. And users who simply prefer using the original Alexa can continue doing so, per a FAQ from the company. Amazon's announcement came more than a year after the company teased an early version of an AI-infused Alexa at a media event held to show off new devices. At the time, Amazon had said it was working on a "speech-to-speech" model that would allow Alexa to exhibit humanlike attributes, such as laughter and phrases like "uh-huh" during conversations. During the demo on Wednesday, Amazon highlighted features it had previously kept under lid. In one exchange, Panay showed the new Alexa a video of the crowd in the room to test a feature that apparently allows it to sense the surrounding mood. Panay asked Alexa+ if the crowed "looked pumped" to which it responded the room full of journalists were "paying attention to you and excited." Like its predecessor, Alexa+ is enabled when users say the voice assistant's name -- but executives on Wednesday said users now only have to say that wake word once before having a prolonged, back and forth exchange. Still, demonstrators would occasionally say "Alexa" again if it seemed like the voice assistant didn't catch something. Amazon competes in the smart speaker market with other tech giants, including Apple and Google. Though it has had success in selling devices, the company's other goal -- driving Amazon purchases through Alexa -- has been more challenging to pull off. Amazon has said Alexa customers have used their device to shop. However, many rely on it mostly for menial tasks, such as playing music, asking questions or checking the weather. A subscription fee for the revamped Alexa will allow the company to offset costs related to AI development and help its devices operations become more profitable. © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

7 exciting AI features coming with Alexa Plus (and what Amazon devices support it)

Today's Devices and Services event showcased the future of Alexa - and how the AI would power Amazon's most popular products. Amazon's early-year Devices and Services event is underway, and the company is making it clear that AI will continue to be at the center of its hardware universe. Driving the buzzword of the century is Alexa, arguably the most popular virtual assistant in the world. SVP of Devices and Services Panos Panay suggested that millions of new customers use it every day during the event. Also: Everything Amazon announced at its Devices and Services event today And that's likely true: Alexa is at the core of Amazon's most prominent hardware products, including Echo speakers and Fire TVs. Today, the company showcased what's next for its virtual assistant, now named Alexa+, as it looks to compete with the likes of Google, OpenAI, and others. The new Alexa will be "something that understands you, that can actually take action," Panay teased, and it'll work with tens of thousands of services from Amazon partners. Here's a rundown of the best new features coming with Alexa+ and what devices in Amazon's portfolio will support them. Powered by LLMs, Alexa+ can now process visual information via your device's cameras to understand and answer questions. Alexa was asked to describe the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm at the event by leveraging the Echo Show 15's front-facing camera. Notably, its responses were two to three sentences long. As Alexa responds, a flowing blue animation appears on the bottom of the device screen. This new change reflects Amazon's more expressive UI. Besides responding more naturally, with sprinkles of humor, another big unveiling showed how Alexa can now fulfill tasks throughout your daily apps and services, including your calendar and emails. It can book a dinner for you and send invitations for that to your closest contacts, too. We've seen similar agentic capabilities with Google's Gemini. Also: 16 incredibly useful things Alexa can do on Amazon Echo In a demo, the virtual assistant was asked to recommend local pizzerias, to which it pulled top-rated storefronts via Yelp. Another example included asking Alexa to remember things, such as "Mary likes Greek and Indian food and is vegetarian but doesn't like peanut butter." It did just that without a question. Amazon also unveiled a series of new widgets alongside its refreshed Echo Show home screen, including ones that surface recipes, recent apps, weather, shopping lists, and connected smart home devices. The adaptive display leverages the larger screen real estate to display relevant information depending on whether you're far away from the device or closer to it. For example, the Echo Show will display photos and personalized content from afar and switch to a more detailed layout when you approach it. For a music demo, Panay asked Alexa, "What's the song Bradley Cooper sings... it's like in a duet?" to which is answered, "Shallow with Lady Gaga from the movie A Star Is Born." More impressively, you can now dictate where music is playing from if you have multiple Alexa-enabled speakers in your house. Also: The best Alexa devices of 2025: Expert tested and recommended For example, you can ask Alexa to play music on the left or right, with the assumption that speakers are mounted in designated areas. We'll have to see exactly how reliable this is in real-world tests. And for Amazon's last trick, Panay asked Alexa to skip to the scene in the movie when "Shallow" is sung, and it did -- on the second try. Alexa now supports AI-powered video search, allowing it to process recordings by Ring cameras to answer questions. In a live demo, Panay asked the assistant whether anyone had taken out the dog yesterday or the day before, to which it sifted through past video libraries to determine the answer. "You can now share just about anything with Alexa," said Mara Segal, Director of Alexa. That includes dense legal documents, handwritten notes, school schedules, PDFs, and more, from which the assistant can process the content and answer related questions. Also: How I feed my files to a local AI for better, more relevant responses In another example, a school schedule was uploaded, and Alexa was asked to add dates for soccer practices to the calendar and suggest snacks that could be brought to them. Amazon's focus on kids-centric services extends to Alexa Plus, which now includes the Explore and Stories features. In a demo, the assistant was asked to create a story about funny animals. It followed up with a story about "Benny the Bearded Dragon," accommodated with a series of AI-generated artwork.

Amazon's new AI-powered Alexa promises to be your 'best friend in a digital world' for a monthly fee

NEW YORK (AP) -- Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a generative-AI infused Alexa that it says will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, check a user's tone and even plan romantic dates. But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls "Alexa+". However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks. At a media event held in New York City, Amazon executives showed off the update to the ten-year old digital assistant with the new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices. The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user -- such as dietary preferences or allergies -- the more it's used. "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. At the event, Panos Panay, Amazon's vice president of devices & services, listed off the other things the voice assistant can now do, such as create study plans, text a babysitter and call an Uber ride for a friend. He and other company executives also said Alexa can fetch videos from Ring cameras -- such as checking whether a user's dog was walked that day -- and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails and other documents shared with it. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Panay said. Alexa is built into products such as smart speakers, Amazon's Fire TVs and earbuds. The Seattle-based tech giant launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 alongside its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands. Panay said Amazon has sold more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices and that user engagement grew 20% last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown Alexa holds the largest market share among voice assistants. The revamped Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the generative AI startup the tech giant has poured billions into. Alexa+ has a "model-agnostic system," allowing it to select the best AI model for the tasks it wants to complete, said Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice president for Alexa and Echo. Amazon says it will start rolling out "early access" to Alexa+ in the U.S. next month. It will then roll it out "in waves" internationally, starting with certain Echo devices. The upgraded assistant will be available across Alexa-supported devices, but some features are only built for products with screens. Amazon's announcement came more than a year after the company teased an early version of an AI-infused Alexa at a media event held to show off new devices. At the time, Amazon had said it was working on a "speech-to-speech" model that would allow Alexa to exhibit humanlike attributes, such as laughter and phrases like "uh-huh" during conversations. During the demo on Wednesday, Amazon highlighted features it had previously kept under lid. In one exchange, Panay showed Alexa a video of the crowd in the room to test a feature that apparently allows it to sense the surrounding mood. Panay asked Alexa if the crowed "looked pumped" to which it responded the room full of journalists were "paying attention to you and excited." Like its predecessor, Alexa+ is enabled when users say the voice assistant's name -- but executives on Wednesday said users now only have to say that wake word once before having a prolonged, back and forth exchange. Still, demonstrators would occasionally say "Alexa" again if it seemed like the voice assistant didn't catch something. Amazon competes in the smart speaker market with other tech giants, including Apple and Google. Though it has had success in selling devices, the company's other goal -- driving Amazon purchases through Alexa -- has been more challenging to pull off. Amazon has said Alexa customers have used their device to shop. However, many rely on it mostly for menial tasks, such as playing music, asking questions or checking the weather. A subscription fee for the revamped Alexa will allow the company to offset costs related to AI development and help its devices operations become more profitable.

Meet Alexa Plus: Your Virtual Assistant Just Got an AI Update

Expertise Home | Home Tech | Home Energy | Energy | Climate Change | AI | Appliances Amazon's Alexa is going to be able to do more than just talk back and do basic commands after a big new update, Amazon announced Wednesday. Amazon unveiled the new generation of Alexa at an event in New York. The next generation of the assistant is powered by generative AI and promises a smarter, more conversational, approachable -- and most importantly, proactive -- virtual assistant. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Amazon's Devices and Services Team Lead Panos Panay, said during the event. The new generation of Amazon Alexa, called Alexa Plus, can book dinner reservations, set reminders on your calendar, order and send gifts to loved ones and learn your routine and likes and dislikes over time to better serve you and those in your household, among other changes, Panay said. During a live demo, the updated Alexa told Panay, "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world. I've got jokes, smarts and a genuine desire to make your life easier and more fun." Panay emphasized that the new generation is "something that can actually take action." Alexa Plus can also control your smart home by monitoring your security cameras, dimming lights or turning them on or off at certain times of the day, playing music and controlling your smart TV. During the demo, Alexa also played a song and was able to move from various speakers when asked, then because it was a song from a movie (Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from A Star is Born), Panay asked Alexa to then play the scene from the movie on the smart TV on the stage -- and it complied. "The new Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life," Panay said. He also demonstrated how it was able to sort through his home security videos and determine the last time his dog was walked or he received a delivery at his home. Alexa is continuing to grow in popularity, according to Panay, who stated that in 2024, people were using Alexa 20% more than in 2023. Alexa Plus is $20 a month, but free if you're a Prime member, and it will start to roll out next month, Panay said. With Alexa Plus, you will also get to use the upcoming Alexa.com. However, according to a recent CNET survey, only 23% of participants said they would pay more for additional AI features in voice assistants, so only time will tell if this stands in the way of Alexa Plus given that many Alexa owners are also Prime members. Read more: New Reports Say Smart Device Cyberattacks More Than Doubled In 2024: Should You Worry? Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo, demonstrated Alexa Plus and said the update doesn't only work with Amazon products. It will pair with partners, including UberEats, Spotify, Dyson, Ticketmaster, Grubhub, OpenTable and more. Before Panay took the stage to make the Alexa upgrade announcement, Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO, highlighted Amazon's AI uses they have already implemented, such as Rufus, a shopping assistant on Amazon and Amazon Bedrock. Jassy said Amazon has more than 1,000 Generative AI programs currently in use or being built. "New experiences that we only dreamed of before are going to be possible with generative AI," Jassy said, adding that the company uses AI "to solve real customer problems." Jassy also teased even more Amazon updates on the horizon, when "drones will get packages to customers in less than an hour eventually."

Amazon's AI-heavy Alexa+ will be accessible on the web

Amazon just held an event in New York City to reveal the long-awaited . This refreshed assistant can perform many new tasks, thanks to some AI wizardry, and there are a few different ways for consumers to access the digital companion. There's voice activation with Echo devices, of course, but the company has also built a . This portal will allow Amazon customers to interact with Alexa+ without having to boot up the app or interact with a smart speaker or smart display. This could be handy for making adjustments while at work or for those who feel comfortable drafting lengthy queries with a traditional keyboard. Consumers will also be able to continue using the app, but Amazon promises a redesign in the near future to accommodate the new features offered by Alexa+. For the uninitiated, Alexa+ is a of the long-standing chatbot. It leverages conversational AI and integration with Amazon services to assist users in a number of new ways. It has contextual awareness, so it can remember earlier parts of a conversation, and can complete relatively complex tasks. The company showed off demos of the assistant finding recipes, booking dinner reservations, searching for the correct part of a movie and a whole lot more. It looks pretty cool, but it's also fairly expensive. Alexa+ begins rolling out over the next few weeks to select Echo Show devices and costs $20 per month. However, it's free for Prime subscribers. Prime currently costs $15 per month in the US. Hopefully that price won't be rising with the inclusion of Alexa+.

Amazon unveils Alexa Plus, its brand new AI-infused voice assistant

There's no word yet on pricing or availability (this is breaking story)... Live from its HQ in New York City Amazon is currently hosting its Alexa event where we've all been expecting the launch of a brand new Alexa voice assistant. And lo and behold, it's finally here - Amazon has revealed Alexa Plus, its new AI-infused voice assistant. The announcement marks the biggest upgrade for the voice assistant since its launch in 2014. And from Vice President of Devices and Services Panos Panay's demonstration at Amazon's devices event, it looks rather impressive. Need a concierge? Sous-chef? Assistant? House manager? Alexa Plus seemingly has it all covered. One of the biggest improvements in Alexa Plus compared to the classic Alexa voice assistant is its impressive ability to hold conversations, which Panay seamlessly trialled live on stage at the event. He asked "I'm a little bit nervous about it, but we're about to do live demos. What do you think can go wrong?". Alexa Plus responded with "With so many eyes on you, it's natural to feel a bit nervous. As for what could go wrong, let's just say Murphy's Law is probably sharpening his pencil right now". So it's confirmed; Alexa Plus has a great sense of humor. So what can Alexa Plus do? Powered by AI models from Anthropic and Amazon Nova, it looks impressively versatile. Some of the demos included smart home control, making restaurant reservations and connecting to your calendar to add events or send invites to friends. The AI assistant also has vision powers, which means it can scan documents and recall information later. Naturally, there's lots for kids too. Ademo video showed Alexa Plus answering questions and creating stories, which it was able to do before - but this time it includes AI-generated images, too.

3 ways Amazon just leapfrogged Apple, Google, and ChatGPT in the AI race

The long-awaited Amazon Alexa+ upgrade is here, setting a new pace for AI voice assistants. Voice assistants stagnated for a decade, hindered by poor understanding and limited usefulness. Recent generative AI developments have transformed them, enabling conversational, multi-turn, and emotion-aware interactions, which tech giants like Google and Apple have included within their offerings. Even though Amazon lagged in upgrading Alexa, it has now unveiled its revamped Alexa+ and, maybe, even lapped the competition. Also: Here's how to use Alexa+ for free - especially if you're an Amazon Prime member Amazon has taken the idea of a conversational voice assistant to the next level with Alexa+ by adding agentic capabilities that place the assistant's helpfulness beyond its competitors, allowing the tool to perform everyday tasks for you. The availability of Alexa+ has also made voice assistant tech more easily accessible for everyday users than Amazon's competitors. If you have tried other AI voice assistants and aren't quite sold on Alexa+, here are a few reasons Amazon's take may change your mind. One of Alexa+'s biggest advantages is that all of its experiences are coming to existing devices, meaning users who want to experience the full suite of AI experiences offered by the upgrade won't have to update the hardware they already own. Also: Everything Amazon announced at its Alexa event today: Alexa+, Echo Show UI, and more Since Alexa-supported device users already seek assistance, they are more likely to be interested in and benefit from an upgraded assistant. To make that transition more seamless, Amazon is baking the new services into its Amazon Prime subscription, which costs $14.99 monthly or $139 annually. That subscription also grants users access to other perks, such as free two-day shipping, access to major sales events, Prime Video, and more. People already in the Amazon ecosystem with a Prime subscription and Alexa products will be able to experience the upgrades with no further action, a big differentiator from most competitors on the market. For example, to access the full breadth of Apple Intelligence, users must purchase a device with a chipset that can support the features. This is a big ask for people who are on the fence about incorporating AI into their daily lives. Also: I tried Perplexity's assistant, and only one thing stops it from being my default phone AI A software example comes with ChatGPT Advanced Voice, which, like Amazon's Alexa, can hold conversational, multi-turn chats with people. However, it is only available in ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 monthly. Thus, users must go out of their way to access ChatGPT and commit to an additional subscription. Although Amazon also offers the $20 per month Alexa+ subscription offer for non-Prime users, the ask is still a bit less as they will likely already use the device in their homes as an assistant. Objectively, when considering all the different features of Alexa+, it is the most advanced AI-powered voice assistant. Like the rest of the AI models on the market, the device can communicate with the user in a way that mimics human conversation, understanding non-linear train of thoughts, multi-turn prompts, and interruptions. However, Alexa+ can take this process further and carry out tasks using agentic capabilities. AI agents can carry out tasks for you with minimal to no instruction -- and with a simple voice command, you can use Alexa+ to navigate the internet autonomously and complete tasks on your behalf. Also: Amazon just gave Alexa its biggest upgrade in a decade - and old Echo devices will support it "Alexa+ is designed to take action, and is able to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices -- which, to our knowledge, has never been done at this scale," said Amazon. "To achieve this, we created a concept called "experts" -- groups of systems, capabilities, APIs, and instructions that accomplish specific types of tasks for customers." Also: Want your Safari to default to ChatGPT for search? Here's how to do it An example Amazon cites is a user needing to repair a kitchen appliance. By simply asking Alexa+ to help arrange to get the oven fixed, Alexa+ knows to navigate the web, use Thumbtack to find a service provider, arrange the repair, and let you know it is booked. The closest comparison is ChatGPT's and Google Gemini's Advanced Research agentic AI features (yes, both have the same name), which sift through hundreds of resources on the web and generate a comprehensive report from the user's prompt. However, neither voice assistant can perform tasks on your behalf -- yet. Amazon has partnered with well-known companies and services that people rely on daily to enhance the practicality and convenience of Alexa's agentic capabilities. The current lineup includes Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Vagaro, Amazon Fresh, and UberEats, to name a few. These strategic collaborations allow Alexa+ to take on a more proactive role in managing everyday tasks. With a simple voice command, users can seamlessly book restaurant reservations, purchase event tickets, schedule beauty and wellness appointments, or order groceries and meals -- all without lifting a finger. By integrating these services, Amazon aims to transform Alexa+ into a true personal assistant, streamlining routine activities. Also: This new text-to-speech AI model understands what it's saying - how to try it for free For example, during the live demo, the user could ask Alexa+ to help him order groceries on Amazon Fresh. Immediately, Alexa+ could open the interface and add ingredients as he listed them. Then, he asked Alexa+ what ingredients are typically used and to add those ingredients to the cart. The user just reviewed the items to place the order. These integrations should help boost adoption, as users will have more motivation to incorporate Alexa+ into their everyday lives. Users will also trust the companies and services they already use to carry out the task. For example, after asking Alexa+ to place an order, GrubHub users trust that a delivery driver will ensure the food arrives safely at their doorstep because of previous interactions with the company.

Amazon's new AI-powered Alexa promises to be your 'best friend in a digital world' for a monthly fee

NEW YORK (AP) -- Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a generative-AI infused Alexa that it says will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, check a user's tone and even plan romantic dates. But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls "Alexa+". However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks. At a media event held in New York City, Amazon executives showed off the update to the ten-year old digital assistant with the new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices. The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user -- such as dietary preferences or allergies -- the more it's used. "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. At the event, Panos Panay, Amazon's vice president of devices & services, listed off the other things the voice assistant can now do, such as create study plans, text a babysitter and call an Uber ride for a friend. He and other company executives also said Alexa can fetch videos from Ring cameras -- such as checking whether a user's dog was walked that day -- and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails and other documents shared with it. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Panay said. Alexa is built into products such as smart speakers, Amazon's Fire TVs and earbuds. The Seattle-based tech giant launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 alongside its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands. Panay said Amazon has sold more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices and that user engagement grew 20% last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown Alexa holds the largest market share among voice assistants. The revamped Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the generative AI startup the tech giant has poured billions into. Alexa+ has a "model-agnostic system," allowing it to select the best AI model for the tasks it wants to complete, said Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice president for Alexa and Echo. Amazon says it will start rolling out "early access" to Alexa+ in the U.S. next month. It will then roll it out "in waves" internationally, starting with certain Echo devices. The upgraded assistant will be available across Alexa-supported devices, but some features are only built for products with screens. Amazon's announcement came more than a year after the company teased an early version of an AI-infused Alexa at a media event held to show off new devices. At the time, Amazon had said it was working on a "speech-to-speech" model that would allow Alexa to exhibit humanlike attributes, such as laughter and phrases like "uh-huh" during conversations. During the demo on Wednesday, Amazon highlighted features it had previously kept under lid. In one exchange, Panay showed Alexa a video of the crowd in the room to test a feature that apparently allows it to sense the surrounding mood. Panay asked Alexa if the crowed "looked pumped" to which it responded the room full of journalists were "paying attention to you and excited." Like its predecessor, Alexa+ is enabled when users say the voice assistant's name -- but executives on Wednesday said users now only have to say that wake word once before having a prolonged, back and forth exchange. Still, demonstrators would occasionally say "Alexa" again if it seemed like the voice assistant didn't catch something. Amazon competes in the smart speaker market with other tech giants, including Apple and Google. Though it has had success in selling devices, the company's other goal -- driving Amazon purchases through Alexa -- has been more challenging to pull off. Amazon has said Alexa customers have used their device to shop. However, many rely on it mostly for menial tasks, such as playing music, asking questions or checking the weather. A subscription fee for the revamped Alexa will allow the company to offset costs related to AI development and help its devices operations become more profitable.

Amazon Unveils an Agentic, Smarter and More Capable Alexa Plus | PYMNTS.com

Amazon took the wraps off a revamped Alexa that is infused with generative artificial intelligence (AI) to be more capable, conversational and agentic than the old version. Called Alexa Plus, it can order groceries, call an Uber, find and book a repairman and other activities, the company said. It can send text messages, go to websites and complete tasks for users through Alexa.com and a new phone app, according to live updates of the in-person event in New York. The new Alexa has been plagued by delays, reportedly due to it hallucinating, or giving wrong information, on test questions. The unveiling comes about a year and a half after Amazon first announced it was going to infuse AI into Alexa, following the release of ChatGPT. "Up until a couple years ago, it was pretty difficult to invent with AI, and that changed with the arrival of foundational models and generative AI. This made the technology much more accessible, so people can see the power and magic of what generative AI can do," said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Behind the scenes, Alexa Plus is powered by Amazon's Nova large language models as well as those from Anthropic, in which Amazon has invested $8 billion. It also accesses other LLMs through its AI platform, Amazon Bedrock. "Providing devices that consumers use in their personal and professional lives is key for ultimate stickiness and adoption. Given that Amazon is already in people's homes already, what will truly move the needle for the company is ultimately the distribution channel of the new agentic AI service," Inna Tokarev Sela, CEO and founder of illumex, told PYMNTS. According to PYMNTS data, only 1.9% of nearly 2,700 U.S. consumers surveyed use the phone or a voice-activated device to shop and pay for retail products. About a quarter shop online and the rest are in-store. Reasons for the low penetration of voice commerce is limited functionality, compatibility with other platforms, not being user-friendly or consumers were just not aware these options are available, according to the report. Alexa Plus is free for Amazon Prime members but $19.99 a month for others. It will start rolling out in the next few weeks in the U.S. and works with nearly all existing Alexa devices. Amazon did not debut new or upgraded hardware. Panos Panay, Amazon's devices and services chief, showed off a redesigned user interface on Echo Show, an Alexa device with a screen, to demonstrate the new capabilities of Alexa Plus. He said Alexa Plus can find specific moments in movies at the user's request -- for example, finding the scene for the song "Shallow" in the 2018 movie "A Star is Born" featuring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Another feature is Alexa's AI-powered search that works with Ring to look through its video library to check, say, whether anyone has walked the dog. Alexa Plus can also remember what it was told previously -- and users only have to say "Alexa" once instead of each time they have a new request during the same conversation. Alexa Plus debuted with a new voice as well. Alexa can also read through documents -- such as HOA rules -- school schedules, handwritten notes and the like. For example, email Alexa the HOA rules and ask questions about it, like whether solar panels are allowed. Another use case is to email Alexa the family's schedule and ask questions, such as, "When is it your turn to bring snacks to soccer practice?" Alexa will answer, put it in your calendar and set a reminder for you. Alexa Plus is also integrated with Suno, which creates music and lyrics through generative AI. For kids specifically, Amazon unveiled "Explore with Alexa" and "Stories with Alexa." Mara Segal, director of Alexa, said Alexa can create custom stories for kids. Explore lets kids ask Alexa questions and play games. Alexa Plus can also provide information about sports and finance, as well as other data, thanks to its roster of "hundreds of partners," said Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo. These include AP, Business Insider, Reuters, Time, USA Today, Politico, Forbes, The Washington Post and PC Gamer.

Everything announced at Amazon's Alexa+ AI event

Amazon held its first major product event of the year on Wednesday and, as expected, it was largely about Alexa. The company first announced its next-gen, AI-powered voice assistant back in 2023, but technical issues forced Amazon to delay its formal unveiling and rollout. An Alexa upgrade means that Amazon has a swathe of new devices ready to support the latest version of the voice assistant. Amazon's hardware chief, Panos Panay, and his devices and services team were at the event to show off Alexa+. Here's a rundown of everything Amazon announced at its first devices event of 2025: After lots (and lots) of boring rambling about generative AI from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy at Wednesday's event, Panay took the mic to start sharing the actual news. Alexa+ is the name of the company's upgraded voice assistant. The company will start to roll it out next month, beginning with Echo Show devices. It costs $20 per month, but Prime members get access at no extra cost. Prime currently costs $15 per month, so we have to wonder if a price increase is coming there. Alexa+ is designed to be more conversational and useful across compatible devices. It can remember your preferences, such as the types of food you like and dislike when asking for a recipe. Panay claimed that, among other things, smart home management "has transformed with Alexa+." You can use the voice assistant to, for instance, move music from an Echo device to another speaker or a TV, or jump to a certain scene in a movie that's on Prime Video. Alexa+ can detect your tone and mood. In a live demo, it appeared to try to help Panay remain calm during his presentation. Amazon claims the upgraded voice assistant can answer questions about footage captured with Ring cameras, photos taken with an Echo Show, emails, files such as PDFs, hand-written notes, your calendar, upcoming sports games and much more. Alexa+ can use a service called Suno (which record labels have sued for scraping their music to train its AI modes) to generate custom songs on the fly. Much like OpenAI has for ChatGPT, Amazon has partnered with a number of news organizations with the aim of answering questions about a variety of topics with current information. Other partners include Uber for ordering rides, OpenTable for booking a restaurant reservation, Spotify, Sonos, Samsung, Xbox, Tidal, Dyson, NASA and "tens of thousands" more. There's Amazon Fresh integration for grocery ordering, and you can see what's in your cart on your screen. Elsewhere, Alexa+ has some features that are apparently kid-friendly. The voice assistant can use genAI to tell kids customized stories based on what they want to hear about. It can also answer questions they have (hopefully without any of those incorrect or false results that delayed Alexa+). Panay led into the announcement and demos by noting that Alexa, as it stands, can be frustrating to use but generative AI can help to mitigate those annoyances. He added that an AI chatbot wouldn't be sufficient for Amazon's vision for Alexa and that people need something easy to use that allows them to "actually take action." With Alexa+, Panay claimed that the "intimidation factor" of genAI is no more. Sure! There are other ways to access Alexa+ other than on an Echo device. Amazon revealed that you'll be able to use the upgraded voice assistant via alexa.com, which looks very basic at the time of writing. Seriously, the screenshot above is all that's on the website, which looks like it was knocked together in five minutes. That'll surely change soon, as a demo at the event indicated that you'll be able to type in queries. Amazon is also revamping the Alexa iOS and Android apps to include access to the upgraded assistant. There was diddly squat on this front. It was widely expected that Amazon would introduce new hardware to go along with Alexa+, such as fresh Echo Buds, Echo speakers, smart displays and so on. But nope! The event was all about the upgraded voice assistant which, at least to start with, requires a screen like an Echo Show, smartphone or computer to use. However, the company says Alexa+ will run on nearly every Alexa-compatible device it has released.

7 biggest Amazon event announcements you missed -- Alexa Plus, pricing, smart home upgrades and more

Amazon has announced Alexa Plus, along with a dizzying amount of news at the Amazon Alexa event today (February 26). We've been following along on our Amazon event live blog, but if you're looking for a quick cheat sheet you've come to the right place. Here are the 7 biggest announcements and demos from today's Amazon event. In a nutshell, Amazon Alexa Plus is Amazon's next-generation assistant that's powered by generative AI. The assistant is a lot more conversational, and can have flowing conversations with you. Alexa Plus can learn from you the more you use it, getting to know your preferences around entertainment, food and more. The most important Alexa Plus upgrade is that it can do things on your behalf, including everything from study help to ordering groceries. For example, you could say "I need everything for banana bread except the spices" and Alexa Plus will build out your shopping list. You can also use Alexa Plus to watch for lower-priced tickets to a baseball game and let you know when the price drops below a certain point. Alexa Plus will work with third parties via AI agents. So you could tell Alexa that your oven isn't working, and it will return a list of repair services. Alexa would then contact them via Thumbtack. The bad news is that Alexa Plus costs $19.99 per month. The good news is that it's free for Amazon Prime members. Alexa Plus will start rolling out in the US. in the next few weeks. Anyone with a smartphone will be able to access the new Alexa Plus via a new Alexa app. But when it comes to smart home device support, the service is very limited. Amazon says that only households with the Amazon Echo Show 8, Echo Show 10, Echo Show 15 and Echo Show 21. That means at least for now Alexa Plus will be off limits for any devices that don't have a display, such as Echo speakers and the Echo Dot. Alexa Plus has a ton of smart home capabilities built in. You can create new Routines just by using your voice -- without having to use the app. You can also use Alexa Plus to discover what music to listen to next or say something like "play the music everywhere but don't wake the baby." So Alexa will know not to play in the nursery. If you happen to have a Ring subscription, Alexa Plus can provide a quick summary of detected camera events. You can even ask specific questions like "When was the last time the dog went out for a walk?" You'll be able to share a wide range of documents with Alexa Plus so it can extract and recall info for you. Thosedocuments could be anything from emails and manuals to family recipes and study materials. Don't have time to read all the emails from your kid's school? You can ask questions like "do I need to bring anything to the school fundraiser?" There's two Alexa Plus features designed for kids. The first is Explore with Alexa. Kids can ask all sorts of questions around various topics, including geography, biology and more. Then there's Stories with Alexa. Amazon's assistant can help you create stories on the fly. For example, "Alexa, create a story about a bearded dragon that plays a saxophone." As a parent, though, I'd be wary of letting Alexa make up stories without me being in the room. Alexa Plus will work with multiple services behind the scenes to get stuff done for you. You'll be able to make a dinner reservation via OpenTable or book an Uber for a friend to meet you for lunch. Amazon announced a preview of the new Alexa AI Multi-Agent SDK that will let brands showcase their agent alongside Alexa. Think of it as the new Alexa skills.

I Saw a Live Demo of Alexa's Big New AI Update

Expertise Home | Home Tech | Home Energy | Energy | Climate Change | AI | Appliances Amazon's Alexa is going to be able to do more than just talk back and do basic commands after a big new update, Amazon announced Wednesday. Amazon unveiled the new generation of Alexa at an event in New York. The next generation of the assistant is powered by generative AI and promises a smarter, more conversational, approachable -- and most importantly, actionable -- virtual assistant. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Amazon's Devices and Services team lead Panos Panay, said during the event. The new generation of Amazon Alexa, which is being called Alexa Plus, can book dinner reservations, set reminders on your calendar, order and send gifts to loved ones and learn your routine and likes and dislikes over time to better serve you and those in your household, among other changes, Panay said. During a live demo, the new Alexa told Panay, "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world. I've got jokes, smarts and a genuine desire to make your life easier and more fun." Panay emphasized that the new generation is "something that can actually take action." Alexa Plus can also control your smart home by monitoring your security cameras, dimming lights or turning them on or off at certain times of the day, playing music and controlling your smart TV. During the demo, Alexa also played a song and was able to move from various speakers when asked, then because it was a song from a movie (Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from A Star is Born), Panay asked Alexa to then play the scene from the movie on the smart TV on the stage -- and it complied. "The new Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life," Panay said. He also demonstrated how it was able to sort through his home security videos and determine the last time his dog was walked or he received a delivery at his home. Alexa is continuing to grow in popularity, according to Panay, who stated that in 2024, people were using Alexa 20% more than in 2023. Alexa Plus is $20 a month, but free if you're a Prime member. Alexa Plus will start to roll out next month, Panay said. With Alexa Plus, you will also get to use the upcoming Alexa.com. However, according to a recent CNET survey, only 23% of participants said they would pay more for additional AI features in voice assistants, so only time will tell if this stands in the way of Alexa Plus given that many Alexa owners are also Prime members. Read more: New Reports Say Smart Device Cyberattacks More Than Doubled In 2024: Should You Worry? Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo, demonstrated using Alexa Plus and stated that the Alexa update doesn't only work with Amazon products. It will pair with partners, including UberEats, Spotify, Dyson, Ticketmaster, Grubhub, OpenTable and more, in order to to take action for users. Before Panay took the stage to make the Alexa upgrade announcement, Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO, highlighted Amazon's AI uses they have already implemented, such as Rufus, a shopping assistant on Amazon, and Amazon Bedrock. Jassy said Amazon has more than 1,000 Generative AI programs currently in use or being built. "New experiences that we only dreamed of before are going to be possible with generative AI," Jassy said, adding that the company uses AI "to solve real customer problems." Jassy also teased even more Amazon updates on the horizon, when "drones will get packages to customers in less than an hour eventually."

'Alexa what is the new update?' Amazon's tech given GenAI upgrade

Amazon has revamped the digital assistant and for the first time will charge users a fee to access certain features. Global tech giant Amazon has announced new updates to digital assistant Alexa, now called Alexa+. Speaking at a launch event in New York, US, the senior vice-president of devices and services for Amazon, Panos Panay explained the update is powered by generative AI (GenAI) technology, in order to be a more active and conversational device. New features include the ability to purchase event tickets, make reservations, offer recipe suggestions tailored to specific household members, summarise and control events recorded on integrated devices such as Ring cameras and contact local services, among others. Reportedly, Alexa can now understand tone and the environment around it, to adjust its responses, in order to match or negate the mood of the user. "She's been trained in a couple of different ways, from EQ to humour to understanding. She understands I'm a little bit nervous, she's trying to calm me." "While the vision of Alexa has been ambitious and remains incredibly compelling, until right this moment, right this moment, we have been limited by the technology. An AI chatbot on its own doesn't get us to our vision of Alexa," said Panay. To be released in the US in the next few weeks it is free for Prime users, however, Amazon will be charging a fee of $19.99 a month for non-Prime holders. Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice-president of Alexa and Fire TV has stated the upgrade will work on 'almost every' Alexa model, but that essentially, the device has undergone a 'complete re-architecture' as part of the upgrade. "It is not as easy as taking an LLM and jacking it into the original Alexa. Alexa+ uses a 'broad range of state-of-the-art' training models from several providers. That includes Amazon's own set of Nova models, as well as those created by third parties like Amazon-backed AI start-up Anthropic," said Rausch. Also this week, Anthropic launched the next phase of its GenAI model, the Claude 3.7 Sonnet. The upgrade enables the model to consider prompts for an extended amount of time, in order to increase quality, accuracy and relevancy. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

You can pay $19.99 a month for Alexa Plus - but why would you?

Today, we got our first glimpse of the new AI-infused virtual assistant that Amazon's engineers have been busily crafting behind the scenes. Alexa Plus, which is rolling out to users in the US over the coming months, can book you a restaurant reservation, manage your schedule, and even show video evidence of your driver walking your dog in the morning. You know, normal, everyday things. And it can do all this for $19.99 per month - or free if you already subscribe to Amazon Prime. That standalone price is very high, and almost totally arbitrary. After all, an Amazon Prime subscription currently costs $14.99 monthly or $139 per year, so paying more for Alexa Plus alone would make no sense at all. And that's the point. The fee for Alexa Plus by itself could have been anything because Amazon doesn't actually expect anyone to buy it that way. What it does want is for you to think "Well, might as well..." and finally press the button to commit to Prime, or decide to keep your subscription active just to see what the new Alexa Plus experience is like. What else does Amazon stand to gain from the generous offer of 'free' Alexa Plus? Well, according to the company's Devices and Services event blog, the service "will start rolling out in the US in the next few weeks, and subsequently in waves in the coming months starting with households with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21." If you don't own such a device, the company not-too-subtly suggests that "you can buy one today". I'm only surprised there's not a button to add one right to your cart. It's not clear whether Alexa Plus will eventually be made available for all existing Echo devices. It looks like all the processing happens server-side and not everything requires a screen, in which case there's seemingly no reason as to why it wouldn't be freely available, but from a business perspective it makes a lot more sense to restrict it to the relatively pricey Echo Show series. The humble Amazon Echo might have earned the top spot in our roundup of the best smart speakers, but if that's all you have at home, you might miss out on the AI action; at least in the short term, anyway. There's also no word on privacy, and how much you might have to sacrifice to get the most out of Alexa Plus. During its launch event, Amazon showed off a wall covered in logos for companies it's working with to deliver services via AI, and presumably, you'll have to grant Amazon access to your various accounts for these integrations to work. At this point, we just don't know, but your data is valuable, so it's well worth finding out. Alexa Plus might well prove to be a valuable addition to your home. Justt bear in mind that there's no such thing as a free lunch, and that $19.99 tag doesn't really mean a great deal by itself. If you're getting something like that 'free', then you're usually paying in other ways.

Alexa+ costs $20 per month, but here's how to get it for free | Stuff

Amazon has unveiled Alexa+, a premium AI-powered upgrade to its voice assistant, promising a smarter, more proactive Alexa experience. The service enhances Alexa's ability to understand complex requests, anticipate needs, and offer more natural conversations. It integrates advanced AI for better home automation, deeper contextual awareness, and improved responses tailored to individual users. The catch? Alexa+ costs $19.99 per month. But if you're an Amazon Prime member, you won't have to pay a cent, because Alexa+ is included as a free perk. This latest addition strengthens the value of Prime, which already offers perks like fast delivery on millions of items, exclusive shopping events such as Prime Day, and access to Prime Video and Amazon Music. Members also enjoy discounts on groceries, prescription medication, fuel, and even food delivery via Grubhub+ (in the US). With Alexa+ now bundled in, Amazon is making its $139-per-year Prime membership an even better deal. You can sign up for Amazon Prime here. Alexa+ will start rolling out in the U.S. over the next few weeks in an early access phase. Initially, Amazon will prioritize Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 owners, granting them first access to the upgraded assistant. If you own one of these devices, you'll be among the first to experience Alexa+. If not, Amazon suggests purchasing one now to increase your chances of early access. For those eager to try Alexa+ as soon as possible, Amazon is accepting early access sign-ups on the Alexa site. The rollout will continue in waves over the coming months, eventually reaching all eligible devices. So, while Alexa+ may have a $19.99 price tag, Prime members can sit back and enjoy it for free - just one more reason to consider signing up for Amazon's ever-expanding membership program.

Amazon's Alexa+ Reflects PYMNTS' 2023 Insights on the Future of Voice Technology | PYMNTS.com

A PYMNTS Intelligence report, "How Consumers Want to Live in the Voice Economy," published nearly two years ago, predicted the growing impact of voice technology on consumer behavior, highlighting its potential to transform daily tasks and emergencies. This foresight aligns closely with Amazon's unveiling of Alexa+, a new version of its voice assistant enhanced with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). The update, designed to make Alexa smarter and more responsive, allows for more advanced capabilities such as ordering groceries, booking services and sending messages. Powered by Amazon's Nova models and other AI technologies, Alexa+ promises to take the voice assistant experience to new heights, reflecting the research's expectation that voice technology would evolve into a more integrated, efficient tool for consumers. As PYMNTS data indicated, consumers are seeking technology that can handle more complex tasks, and Alexa+ delivers on this vision, revolutionizing how consumers interact with voice assistants. Prime members will have free access to Alexa+, while others will pay a $19.99 monthly fee. One of the key features of Alexa+ is its ability to remember past interactions and use them to provide more personalized responses. It can also search video libraries, read documents, and complete various other tasks. Though there have been some delays in its development, Alexa+ is expected to roll out soon, offering users more advanced AI features through their existing Alexa devices. This upgrade from Amazon aligns closely with trends identified in our research from April 2023, based on a survey of 2,939 U.S. consumers. It revealed that while smart and mobile devices remain central to modern consumer technology, voice technology is emerging as the next step. Despite the proliferation of touchscreen interfaces, voice-controlled devices offer unparalleled convenience, especially in hands-free situations, such as when driving or multitasking. "The next frontier is approaching, however, and nearly two-thirds of Americans have already used this up-and-coming technology in the past year," the report said. "This advancement, of course, is voice technology. "Consumers want to make everyday routines smart, simple and more connected, and hands-free voice technologies can fit the bill. Consumers can already use voice technology to find information, identify themselves via voice assistant, or find and book airline tickets, among other possibilities." According to the report, nearly two-thirds of Americans used voice technology in the past year. The main drivers of voice adoption are speed and convenience. Many consumers find it faster and easier to use voice commands than to type or tap on screens. In fact, nearly half of users view voice technology especially useful in emergencies, where quick action is crucial. These findings suggest voice technology has broad potential to streamline and improve daily routines. Additionally, the report showed 60% of people believe voice assistants will eventually become as capable and reliable as humans within the next five years. While enthusiasm is growing, trust remains a major barrier. Only a small percentage of consumers believe voice assistants have the same capabilities as humans, and many are still hesitant to trust them with complex tasks. Despite these challenges, the potential for voice technology is immense, the report says. Consumers are open to using voice assistants for a variety of tasks, but they remain wary of trusting them with sensitive information or more complicated activities. As voice technology improves and becomes more dependable, it's expected more consumers will gradually increase their usage. One of the key takeaways from the report was the willingness of certain demographics to pay for a more reliable, smart voice assistant. Younger individuals, particularly millennials, and higher-income consumers are more likely to invest in premium voice services, while older generations and lower-income groups tend to be more reluctant to make the leap.

Amazon Wants to Take on AI Competitors with Alexa+ - Phandroid

The last few years have been interesting to see especially when it comes to AI-based software assistants, such as ones that we've seen from the likes of Google and OpenAI. One recent addition is Amazon, which has just announced a new and more powerful AI assistant by way of "Alexa+," although there's a catch. READ: Budding developers can check out a free version of Google's Gemini AI coding tool While Alexa usually came free with supported Amazon devices and even third-party hardware, Amazon is pricing Alexa+ with a 20-dollar monthly fee. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber however, Alexa+ does come free with your monthly plan. Amazon adds that it will initially roll out for the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 (no word yet on older devices). As for what it can do, Amazon states that Alexa+'s smarts are built upon Amazon Bedrock's LLMs, with support for "experts" which essentially work behind the scenes and provide specific systems that can handle a variety of instructions and APIs which correspond to a user's request. Like Gemini and ChatGPT, it's designed to have a more natural conversational flow. Amazon Alexa+ will also be available for download via the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

Amazon finally unveils new Alexa with AI overhaul: 'Knows almost...

Amazon unveiled on Wednesday an overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant, embedding it with generative artificial intelligence. "Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life, your schedule, your smart home, your preferences, the devices you're using, the people you're connected to, the entertainment you love and use many of the apps you use, a lot of the services you need," said Panos Panay, Amazon's head of devices and services, at a launch event in New York. The new service is called Alexa+, Panay said, echoing the nomenclature of the higher tier of many tech and streaming service offerings. It marks the unveiling of a secret project known internally as "Banyan" aimed at making Alexa more conversational. Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can learn from data and improve over time. The effort carries significant weight at Amazon, which has plowed billions of dollars into Alexa since its launch in 2014 in the hope of putting the service into a range of devices and ultimately driving sales on its main e-commerce website. Alexa is voice-controlled software installed in products such as smart speakers that can provide answers to user questions, play music, set timers and serve as a hub for home automation, by linking internet-connected devices so that, for instance, a light can be turned on with just voice prompts. The new Alexa AI service will be able to respond to multiple prompts in sequence and even act as an "agent" by taking actions for users without their direct involvement. That contrasts with the current iteration which generally handles only a single request at a time. Executives have debated charging as much as $10 per month for the new service, people have told Reuters, to recoup some of the investment sunk into the money-losing business. Amazon did not immediately address pricing details. Panay said Alexa+ is live as of Wednesday. Amazon has said there are some 500 million Alexa-capable devices in consumer hands already, meaning the revamp is at once a huge money-making opportunity for the Seattle retailer -- and a big financial risk if it does not live up to expectations.

Amazon's New AI-Powered Alexa Promises to Be Your 'Best Friend in a Digital World' for a Monthly Fee

NEW YORK (AP) -- Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a generative-AI infused Alexa that it says will allow the popular voice assistant to have more personality, check a user's tone and even plan romantic dates. But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls "Alexa+". However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks. At a media event held in New York City, Amazon executives showed off the update to the ten-year old digital assistant with the new features aimed at boosting sales and interactions with Alexa-enabled devices. The company says Alexa+ is able to have conversations with a more natural, humanlike flow and can learn more about a user -- such as dietary preferences or allergies -- the more it's used. "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa+ said during an onstage demo on Wednesday. At the event, Panos Panay, Amazon's vice president of devices & services, listed off the other things the voice assistant can now do, such as create study plans, text a babysitter and call an Uber ride for a friend. He and other company executives also said Alexa can fetch videos from Ring cameras -- such as checking whether a user's dog was walked that day -- and is able to remember handwritten recipes, emails and other documents shared with it. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Panay said. Alexa is built into products such as smart speakers, Amazon's Fire TVs and earbuds. The Seattle-based tech giant launched its popular voice assistant in 2014 alongside its first Echo device, which responds to voice commands. Panay said Amazon has sold more than 600 million Alexa-enabled devices and that user engagement grew 20% last year compared to 2023. Some market estimates have shown Alexa holds the largest market share among voice assistants. The revamped Alexa uses large language models, including some developed by Amazon and others by Anthropic, the generative AI startup the tech giant has poured billions into. Alexa+ has a "model-agnostic system," allowing it to select the best AI model for the tasks it wants to complete, said Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice president for Alexa and Echo. Amazon says it will start rolling out "early access" to Alexa+ in the U.S. next month. It will then roll it out "in waves" internationally, starting with certain Echo devices. The upgraded assistant will be available across Alexa-supported devices, but some features are only built for products with screens. Amazon's announcement came more than a year after the company teased an early version of an AI-infused Alexa at a media event held to show off new devices. At the time, Amazon had said it was working on a "speech-to-speech" model that would allow Alexa to exhibit humanlike attributes, such as laughter and phrases like "uh-huh" during conversations. During the demo on Wednesday, Amazon highlighted features it had previously kept under lid. In one exchange, Panay showed Alexa a video of the crowd in the room to test a feature that apparently allows it to sense the surrounding mood. Panay asked Alexa if the crowed "looked pumped" to which it responded the room full of journalists were "paying attention to you and excited." Like its predecessor, Alexa+ is enabled when users say the voice assistant's name -- but executives on Wednesday said users now only have to say that wake word once before having a prolonged, back and forth exchange. Still, demonstrators would occasionally say "Alexa" again if it seemed like the voice assistant didn't catch something. Amazon competes in the smart speaker market with other tech giants, including Apple and Google. Though it has had success in selling devices, the company's other goal -- driving Amazon purchases through Alexa -- has been more challenging to pull off. Amazon has said Alexa customers have used their device to shop. However, many rely on it mostly for menial tasks, such as playing music, asking questions or checking the weather. A subscription fee for the revamped Alexa will allow the company to offset costs related to AI development and help its devices operations become more profitable. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Amazon unveils Alexa+ with generative AI for improved interaction By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has announced a significant revamp of their Alexa voice assistant, named Alexa+, which now includes generative artificial intelligence. The announcement was made by Panos Panay, Amazon's head of devices and services, during a launch event in New York on Wednesday. The new service is aimed at making Alexa more conversational and capable of learning from data to improve over time. This is a result of a previously undisclosed project, internally referred to as "Banyan". Alexa, which was launched in 2014, is a voice-controlled software that is typically found in smart speakers. It can answer user queries, play music, set timers, and serve as a central hub for home automation by connecting internet-enabled devices. For example, it can turn on a light in response to a voice command. The updated Alexa AI service, Alexa+, will be able to handle multiple prompts sequentially and act as an "agent", performing actions for users without requiring their direct input. This is a significant change from the current version of Alexa, which generally responds to a single request at a time. The introduction of Alexa+ marks a substantial investment by Amazon, which has poured billions of dollars into Alexa since its inception, with the aim of integrating the service into a variety of devices and boosting sales on its primary e-commerce site. Panay confirmed that Alexa+ was launched and became operational on Wednesday. Amazon has not yet provided any details on the pricing of the new service.

Alexa Plus -- here's the Amazon devices that will and won't support it

Not every Echo is getting Amazon's AI-powered Alexa experience Amazon has finally unveiled its upgraded Alexa Plus virtual assistant which features a more conversational tone, better personalization and AI smarts to help you get even more done. While we initially thought all of this extra functionality might be locked behind yet another subscription service, Alexa Plus will be available for free for everyone with an Amazon Prime membership. Alternatively, if you don't have Prime, Alexa Plus will cost $19.99 per month. Amazon also revealed that you won't have to wait too long to try out Alexa Plus for yourself as it will be released in the coming weeks. The initial rollout will be U.S. only and in order to get access, you'll need to own or purchase an Echo Show 8, Echo Show 10, Echo Show 15 or an Echo Show 21. But what about the rest of your existing Echo devices and the best Alexa compatible devices? If you're wondering which of your Alexa-powered smart speakers, smart displays and other smart home gadgets will work with Alexa Plus, you've come to the right place. Here's everything you need to know about which Amazon devices are compatible with Alexa Plus and which ones won't support this new AI-powered virtual assistant. Although you'll need an Echo Show 8, 10, 15 or 21 to get access to Alexa Plus as part of the initial rollout, it will be available on all Echo devices with a few exceptions I'll cover below. These are the Echo devices you already own that will support Alexa Plus with a voice-only experience: At the same time, you will also be able to access Alexa Plus through your web browser, using the Alexa app and on compatible Fire TVs and Fire tablets. With over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices sold so far, it's understandable that the new Alexa Plus experience won't be available on all of them. Many of them are close to a decade old or even older, so chances are, you might not even be using them anymore. Here are all of the Echo devices that won't support Alexa Plus: At its Devices event today unveiling Alexa Plus, an Amazon spokesperson explained to Tom's Guide that its upgraded virtual assistant isn't currently supported on Alexa Built-in devices. These include products like the Sonos Era 100 smart speaker and the Ecobee Smart Thermostat as well as the company's own Amazon Astro home robot. The good news though is that Amazon is looking to bring Alexa Plus to these devices in the future. Another great thing about Alexa Plus is that at least for now, it will be an optional upgrade and if you don't want to use it, you don't have to. In addition to those unsupported Echo devices, in the Alexa Plus FAQ on its site, Amazon explains that "if you prefer using the original Alexa, it will remain available on your devices." There are plenty of exciting new smart home features to try out in Alexa Plus but not everyone uses Amazon's virtual assistant this way. For instance, you might have an elderly relative that you bought an Echo Dot or an Echo Show to check up on that's using Alexa Emergency Assist for help in case of emergencies. Adding an AI-powered virtual assistant to the mix might overcomplicate things for them. Amazon also hasn't said when or even if the original Alexa will be discontinued in favor of Alexa Plus. Likewise, we don't know yet if you'll be able to easily switch back and forth between the two if you end up favoring one experience over the other. Alexa Plus has been in the works for years and now that it's finally here, we can't wait to test it out for ourselves so stay tuned to Tom's Guide for everything you need to know about this brand new Alexa experience along with when it will arrive on your Echo devices.

Alexa relaunched with ambition to be 'your best digital friend'

It will be included for free in Prime subscriptions when it launches from March - but to non-members it will cost $19.99 (£16) per month, with the UK price yet to be announced. However experts have suggested consumers may struggle to get past their limited expectations of Amazon devices. "Smart speakers are found in one in four UK homes, yet many users treat them as nothing more than expensive kitchen timers," said Ed Freed from marketing agency Rapp UK. "Ultimately, the most logical place for a truly personal AI assistant is on your phone, not on your countertop." Amazon's head of devices and services Panos Panay said Alexa+ would remember information, meaning if you tell it you're a gluten intolerant vegan, for example, future recipes it suggested would bear this in mind. And he promised there would be "no more Alexa speak" - meaning users will be able to speak to it more conversationally than previously possible. These are new features that Dr Richard Whittle of University of Salford's Business School explained were "long overdue". "Amazon is hoping its upgraded Alexa will challenge Copilot, Google Assistant and Siri, all of whom use new LLM (large language model) technology," he said. "When users can now chat naturally to their AI assistants, Alexa's once leading voice interaction seems narrow and rigid." His colleague Dr Gordon Fletcher, associate dean of research and innovation, agreed. "Technology changes more rapidly now, competing AI models get updated and everyone else scrambles to respond, Grok last week, Claude this week," he said. "Alexa and the Echo hardware have increasingly seemed like an ageing relic, slow to shift and always behind the curve."

Amazon's next-gen Alexa gets AI upgrade

New York (AFP) - Online retail behemoth Amazon on Wednesday announced a new version of its Alexa voice assistant that is powered by generative artificial intelligence, giving the device more human-like qualities. "I'm not just an assistant. I'm your new best friend in the digital world," Alexa Plus told the audience at a New York launch event. The upgrade comes amid fierce competition in the AI assistant market. Microsoft now offers an audio version of Copilot, Google has launched its Gemini AI, and Apple continues working to enhance Siri with generative AI capabilities. Though the market leaders, Alexa and Siri have been struggling to deliver more intuitive interactions and the companies have long promised increased performance with the use of generative AI. The rollout comes as tech giants including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI are investing billions in AI development despite uncertain returns. The tech juggernauts are trying to expand the everyday use of AI, and Amazon can count on a base of over 600 million installed devices already equipped with its 10-year-old service. Panos Panay, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon, said that Alexa Plus opens a new age for voice devices. "Until this moment... we have been limited by technology," Panay, a former Microsoft executive, said at the event. For now Alexa is mostly used for relatively simple tasks, such as playing music, giving the weather forecast or turning on the lights in a room. Alexa Plus's capabilities are closer to that of a virtual agent, capable of performing actions on command. This launch is "taking AI to the masses," said analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight, adding that there was "a lot riding on this revamp." "The biggest question is whether users are ready, given their early experiences and concerns around security and trust. These factors still remain huge barriers to wider adoption," he added. Demonstrations at the event showed Alexa Plus performing tasks like booking concert tickets, sending text messages, planning trips, updating shared calendars, and even analyzing security camera footage to determine if someone had walked the dog. Benefiting from the new functionalities of generative AI, Alexa Plus can create, at a child's request, a made up story with the characters of his or her choice, or produce a song in tribute to a pet. In one showcase, the assistant composed and performed a song about a cat using Suno, a music generation service currently facing lawsuits from major music labels. The new offering includes access through Alexa.com and a dedicated phone app, allowing users to upload documents for feedback similar to ChatGPT or Google's Gemini. Alexa Plus will launch in the United States in April for $19.99 monthly, with free access for Amazon Prime subscribers.

Amazon to launch new lineup of Alexa Plus companion gadgets this fall

Amazon unveiled Alexa Plus, its long-awaited generative AI version of the popular virtual assistant Alexa, on Wednesday. The model and its companion gadgets are intended to go beyond the duties of a traditional virtual assistant and help users with everyday tasks like making reservations or hiring someone to fix your oven, Jassy said. "It really is the first big, large scale practical use of generative AI [that] the consumers are going to be able to see and use naturally," Jassy said. The upcoming companion devices are only one part of what Jassy deems Alexa's own "sustainable" business model. "We have opportunities to service new products and advertising in various interfaces, like our mobile and our desktop interface that's coming in Alexa, and then we have subscriptions," Jassy said. Alexa Plus, essentially the company's answer to Google's (GOOGL-1.66%) Gemini, will start rolling out in some Amazon devices next month. It will be free for Amazon Prime subscribers and will cost $19.99 for non-Prime users. With Alexa Plus and the company's focus on building generative AI capabilities for its cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services, Amazon is putting all bets on AI. "We're spending a pretty significant amount of CapEx, and the lion's share of it is on generative AI," Jassy said. The Alexa Plus product was at the center of investor worries last year when former employees told Fortune Magazine that the company struggled to mesh the existing Alexa technology with generative AI. At the time, Amazon claimed the employees were incorrect.

Amazon debuts updated Alexa chatbot in push to catch up with rivals

Amazon unveiled a long-delayed "conversational" version of Alexa on Wednesday, betting a more personalised artificial intelligence-powered chatbot will give it an edge in the digital assistant market. Amazon said its so-called Alexa+ service would enable customers to engage with their voice assistants in "natural, flowing conversations". It said the upgrade meant services would become more personalised as the device learnt users' habits and daily schedules. "The new Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life," Panos Panay, Amazon's device chief, said at an event in New York. He said it would also help organise customers' schedules and control a range of smart home devices. Services will be offered for $19.99 a month, or free alongside Amazon's $14.99 Prime subscription, with Alexa+ a loss leader intended to boost demand for Prime accounts. The new Alexa is Amazon's attempt to catch up with rivals including Google, Meta and Microsoft on embedding generative AI into products and services to help boost revenues. The ecommerce giant has increased revenue by offering AI data centre services and products to enterprise customers through its cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services, and has made an $8bn strategic bet on start-up Anthropic to compete against the likes of Microsoft-backed OpenAI on more advanced AI models. But it has lagged behind in consumer-facing products. The company has committed to $100bn in capital expenditures this year, with an emphasis on AI infrastructure. Alexa+ was touted more than a year and a half ago and was announced after OpenAI launched its ChatGPT model in 2022. Yet development has been beset with difficulties, with the company's AI and Alexa teams encountering slow response times and "hallucinations" or fabricated answers. The new service runs on a range of large language models including Anthropic's Claude and the ecommerce group's in-house Nova service, depending on the task a customer sets. Amazon is also launching an Alexa website and new mobile app. Wednesday's announcement came more than a decade after the first iteration of Amazon's digital assistant was released on its Echo device. The company has since sold more than 500mn Alexa-enabled devices, but it has not publicly disclosed whether the unit has made a profit despite sinking tens of billions of dollars into its range of smart devices and speakers. Amazon executives demonstrated the upgraded Alexa making restaurant reservations, booking a repair person and ordering an Uber ride for an airport pick up. It also showed it booking concert tickets and setting price alerts. They also showed Alexa processing information from uploaded documents and photographs, and highlighted the assistant's new ability to complete tasks for customers. Panay said the current version of Alexa still had some limitations and users would sometimes hear the response "sorry, I didn't quite get that". "Alexa has a legacy of 10 years of trust and transparency with our customers -- and those years will continue with Alexa+," he added.

Amazon unveils a new and improved Alexa, Alexa+ | TechCrunch

At an event in NYC on Wednesday, Amazon announced an upgraded Alexa experience powered by generative AI. Onstage, Amazon's devices and services chief Panos Panay called it a "complete architecture" of the AI assistant. "[W]hile the vision of Alexa has been ambitious and remains incredibly compelling, until right this moment, right this moment, we have been limited by the technology," Panay said. "An AI chatbot on its own doesn't get us to our vision of Alexa." Amazon says that the new Alexa can answer questions like "How many books have I read this year?," drawing on info from an Amazon customer account. It can notify users when, for example, new tickets for a concert drop, and help with certain tasks like booking a dinner reservation. Like other assistants on the market, the upgraded Alexa has visual understanding. Through a device's camera, it can take in a visual feed and respond to questions taking whatever's happening in the feed into account. "The new Alexa knows almost [everything] in your life -- your schedule, your smart home, your preferences, the devices you're using, the people you're connected [and] the entertainment you [enjoy]," Panay said. Panay says that the improved Alexa can understand tone and the environment around it, and adjust its responses on the fly. "She's been trained in a couple of different ways, from EQ to humor to understanding," he added. "She understands I'm a little bit nervous, she's trying to calm me."

Amazon Alexa Gets Big AI Update, Making It 'Something That Can Actually Take Action"

Expertise Home | Home Tech | Home Energy | Energy | Climate Change | AI | Appliances Amazon's Alexa is going to be able to do more than just talk back and do basic commands after a big new update, Amazon announced Wednesday. Amazon unveiled the new generation of Alexa at an event in New York. The next generation of the assistant is powered by generative AI and promises a smarter, more conversational, approachable -- and most importantly, actionable -- virtual assistant. "She's smarter than she's ever been before, but she's also approachable," Amazon's Devices and Services team lead Panos Panay, said during the event. The new generation of Amazon Alexa, which is being called Alexa+, can book dinner reservations, set reminders on your calendar, order and send gifts to loved ones and learn your routine and likes and dislikes over time to better serve you and those in your household, among other changes, Panay said. During a live demo, the new Alexa told Panay, "I'm not just an assistant, I'm your new best friend in the digital world. I've got jokes, smarts and a genuine desire to make your life easier and more fun." Panay emphasized that the new generation is "something that can actually take action." Alexa+ can also control your smart home by monitoring your security cameras, dimming lights or turning them on or off at certain times of the day, playing music and controlling your smart TV. During the demo, Alexa also played a song and was able to move from various speakers when asked, then because it was a song from a movie (Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from A Star is Born), Panay asked Alexa to then play the scene from the movie on the smart TV on the stage -- and it complied. "The new Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life," Panay said. He also demonstrated how it was able to sort through his home security videos and determine the last time his dog was walked or he received a delivery at his home. Alexa is continuing to grow in popularity, according to Panay, who stated that in 2024, people were using Alexa 20% more than in 2023. Alexa+ is $19.99 a month, but free if you're a Prime member. Alexa+ will start to roll out next month, Panay said. With Alexa+, you will also get to use the upcoming Alexa.com. However, according to a recent CNET survey, only 23% of participants said they would pay more for additional AI features in voice assistants, so only time will tell if this stands in the way of Alexa+ given that many Alexa owners are also Prime members. Read more: New Reports Say Smart Device Cyberattacks More Than Doubled In 2024: Should You Worry? Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa & Echo, demonstrated using Alexa+ and stated that the Alexa update doesn't only work with Amazon products. It will pair with partners, including UberEats, Spotify, Dyson, Ticketmaster, Grubhub, OpenTable and more, in order to to take action for users. Before Panay took the stage to make the Alexa upgrade announcement, Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO, highlighted Amazon's AI uses they have already implemented, such as Rufus, a shopping assistant on Amazon, and Amazon Bedrock. Jassy said Amazon has more than 1,000 Generative AI programs currently in use or being built. "New experiences that we only dreamed of before are going to be possible with GenerativeAI," Jassy said, adding that the company uses AI "to solve real customer problems." Jassy also teased even more Amazon updates on the horizon, when "drones will get packages to customers in less than an hour eventually."

Amazon's 'Alexa+' is a $20/month upgrade unless you have Prime, which is $15/month

Amazon just unveiled its new "Alexa+" upgrade for its long-running voice assistant which brings AI upgrades and a $20 price tag, but you don't have to pay that if you have Prime, which is a much bigger, yet cheaper service. Amazon Prime has been one of the best values on the web for a long time now, offering faster shipping speeds, a video streaming library, free cloud gaming options, and a host of other perks and services for a flat yearly or monthly fee. Many of those services are available on their own at a lower cost, but it's hard to argue the value you get from having the larger subscription. But Amazon's latest addition to Prime is a head-scratcher. "Alexa+" is a new AI upgrade to Amazon's voice assistant which delivers new features and capabilities. Some of the promises are pretty compelling, and Amazon is rolling out the upgrade for free for its Prime subscribers. Alexa+ costs $19.99 per month, but is free for all Prime members. Alexa+ will start rolling out in the U.S. in the next few weeks, and subsequently in waves in the coming months... The math ain't mathing. The reason for this disparity is reasonably obvious. $20 per month is, give or take, the going industry standard for AI subscriptions. ChatGPT Plus is $20/month. Gemini Advanced is also $19.99/month (with 2TB of Google One storage on top). With Amazon's plans for a website and mobile apps for Alexa+, it makes some sense to match those prices. However, this disparity does strongly suggest that Amazon may end up raising Prime prices, which currently costs $139/year on an annual plan. Earlier this year, Amazon upped the price on its Music Unlimited service.

Is Alexa+ Better Than ChatGPT & Gemini AI? Amazon's AI Assistant Deep Dive

Amazon Alexa AI has been officially launched by the company, directly rivaling the ChatGPT and Gemini AI leadership in the Generative AI sector. The new version improves Alexa's smart assistant abilities, providing enhanced interactivity, personalized suggestions, and innovative AI-based features. Although Prime members will have free access, non-members will have to pay US$19.99 per month for the premium service. The newly released Alexa Plus will be more interactive and proactive. It can now conduct operations beyond straightforward voice commands. For example, tasks like placing grocery shopping, sending event invitation alerts, and presenting personalized recommendations of movies and cuisines. The Alexa AI Plus release brings more advanced features, such as image recognition and trip planning. Amazon also showed off the ability to monitor activity with cameras. Thus providing real-time status updates such as whether a pet has been walked.

Amazon Debuts New Alexa Voice Assistant With AI Overhaul

Amazon unveiled on Wednesday the first major overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant since it was introduced more than a decade ago, embedding it with generative artificial intelligence. The effort carries significant weight at Amazon, which has plowed billions of dollars into Alexa since its launch in 2014 in the hope of putting the service into a range of devices and ultimately driving sales on its main e-commerce website. "Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life, your schedule, your smart home, your preferences, the devices you're using, the people you're connected to, the entertainment you love and uses many of the apps you use, a lot of the services you need," said Panos Panay, Amazon's head of devices and services, at a launch event in New York. The new service is called Alexa+, Panay said, echoing the nomenclature of the higher tier of many tech and streaming service offerings.

Amazon's Alexa finally got its generative AI upgrade

Nvidia, Super Micro Computer, Home Depot, and more stocks to watch The tech giant announced Alexa Plus on Wednesday, which now enables new capabilities such as assisting users with tasks such as shopping for groceries and sending event invites, according to The Verge. The upgraded AI-powered virtual assistant will also be able to memorize personal details about users, Amazon reportedly said, such as eating habits and other interests. Users will be able to have conversations with Alexa Plus, which can also take and analyze photos, The Verge reported. "Every once in a while, a technology comes around and it changes everything," Panos Panay, senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon, said at an event on Wednesday, according to CNBC (CMCSA-1.92%). "[Large language models] enter the stage and fundamentally change the way we think about AI...It's shaken up everything." The Alexa Plus service will be free for Amazon Prime subscribers when it begins rolling out next month, or $19.99 per month for non-Prime members, CNBC reported. Panay told CNBC that the service will be available on "almost every" Alexa device. During Amazon's third-quarter earnings call in October, Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy said the company was continuing "to rearchitect the brain" of its virtual assistant with a set of next-generation foundation models -- or larger models trained on broad, generalized data sets. "When we first were pursuing Alexa, we had this vision of it being the world's best personal assistant and people thought that was kind of a crazy idea," David Fildes, Amazon vice president of investor relations, said. "And I think if you look at what's happened in generative AI over the last couple of years, I think you're kind of missing the boat if you don't believe that's going to happen. It absolutely is going to happen." In June, Fortune reported that the AI-powered Alexa -- which Amazon demoed the previous September and said would be available for a free preview on its Alexa-fitted devices in the U.S. -- was not even close to being ready. Former employees told the publication that the company didn't have enough data nor access to the chips needed to run the large language models (LLM) powering the new version of its virtual assistant. The company also reportedly deprioritized Alexa AI to focus on building generative AI for its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services. At the time, Amazon said its former employees were incorrect and uninformed on its Alexa AI efforts, and that the Amazon Artificial General Intelligence team had access to both in-house Trainium chips and Nvidia's (NVDA+4.70%) chips.

Amazon to charge households for new Alexa

Alexa+ users will be charged a monthly fee, though the service will be included free with Amazon's Prime subscription. It will initially launch in the US. Jeff Bezos's company first introduced Alexa in 2014, allowing users to ask simple questions to their smart speakers after activating the device by saying its name. Alexa was a passion project for Mr Bezos, who envisioned a helpful assistant similar to a voice-activated computer on the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. There are more than 600m devices made by both Amazon and other gadget-makers that can be controlled with Alexa, although the digital aide has always been limited to understanding simple commands. The technology giant hopes its upgrade, which makes use of recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, will tempt users into paying for an improved version of the service. A spokesman said Amazon had no plans to charge for its current, free version of Alexa. The revamped version of Alexa comes as technology giants race to launch new AI-powered products in the wake of the runaway success of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Technology businesses including Apple, Microsoft, Google and Meta have all added digital chatbot technology to their products, although many have suffered from glitches, such as sharing made up or out-of-date information. Amazon's technology is heavily reliant on Claude, an AI bot made by OpenAI's rival Anthropic. Anthropic has received billions of dollars in investment from the online retailer. Amazon said its new Alexa would be "easy to talk to" and understood colloquial expressions. It will be able to respond to complex requests and complete tasks with multiple steps. The tech giant said its upgrades would mean Alexa could "search, find or buy virtually any item online" and could be used for ordering groceries, takeaways or automatically searching the web. The tech giant will be adding a new website for its chatbot, Alexa.com, where users can conduct research or ask questions. In one example shown at the company's launch event in New York, Alexa+ was shown making a dinner reservation for two, before booking an Uber for the user and texting their friend about the plan.

Amazon's new Alexa+ brings AI-powered 'Explore' and 'Stories' features for kids | TechCrunch

As part of the reveal of Amazon's new AI-powered Alexa+ assistant, the tech giant announced that it's launching two new features designed for kids called "Explore with Alexa" and "Stories with Alexa." The features, which leverage Alexa's new AI capabilities, will be available to Amazon Kids+ subscribers. The company demonstrated the new features at a press event in New York, and noted that they are designed to help kids explore fun topic and encourage imaginative thinking. The new Explore feature lets kids ask questions like: "Can plants talk to each other," to which Alexa would respond, "Plants do communicate, but not by talking." Or, they can ask a question like: "A rose is red and grows in buds. True or false?" With Stories with Alexa, kids can ask the voice assistant to generate a story based on a prompt. For instance, a kid can ask Alexa+ to "create a story about a bearded dragon that plays a saxophone." "Alexa isn't just asking answering a question or telling a story, she's unlocking their imaginations," said Mara Segal, Amazon's director for Alexa, during the event. "She's engaging with them in new ways, through natural conversation and rich visuals." Amazon Kids+ costs $5.99 per month for Amazon Prime members and $7.99 per month for non-Prime members. The subscription service gives children access to books, videos, games, and apps. It's available for children ages 3-12.