If you’ve grown weary of Alexa’s sometimes lackluster responses, get ready for a significant upgrade. At a recent event in New York City, Amazon showcased its AI-enhanced and “completely re-architectured” Alexa. Starting next month, the company will launch a public preview, introducing users to Alexa+, which, according to Amazon, represents a major step forward in voice assistant technology.
The new Alexa+ will require a subscription, priced at $19.99 per month, similar to premium services like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. However, Amazon Prime members will receive Alexa+ for free. While Amazon has previously affirmed that the classic Alexa would remain available at no cost, this was not mentioned during the initial announcement. (An Amazon spokesperson has since confirmed that free “classic” Alexa remains an option.)
This image shows the unveiling of the new Amazon Alexa Plus.
The upgraded Alexa, which will also include new phone and web apps, will boast a range of new advanced capabilities, including “agentic” abilities – the latest buzzword in AI. Amazon says Alexa+ will handle tasks such as shopping, booking travel, texting contacts, suggesting recipes, and refining smart home routines, all within a single interaction. The enhanced assistant will be able to reason and take action, extending to tasks such as setting reminders based on conversation.
During the demo, Amazon’s devices head, Panos Panay, engaged in an animated conversation with Alexa+, which was reminiscent of ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode. The new Alexa also demonstrated its multimodal abilities by analyzing a live video feed from the presentation audience, describing the scene, the crowd’s size, and the audience reaction. Panay highlighted Alexa+’s abilities to create routines from natural language prompts. He also showcased the new Alexa extracting the song “Shallow” from the A Star is Born soundtrack on Amazon Music in response to a vague query and then prompted Alexa to “jump to that scene” in the movie streamed on Amazon Prime Video, which it did successfully. With a new Alexa Ring integration, Panay asked Alexa+ “what’s happening at my house,” and Alexa immediately displayed a live feed of a Ring security camera, accurately describing the situation.
Additional smart home and home entertainment integrations include Wyze, iRobot, Govee, Shark, Sonos, and Vizio. According to Panay, with Alexa+, there will be much more than just the “typical Alexa speak.”
The user interface for Alexa+ was also revealed. The new display features a dynamic blue animation that shifts shape as you converse with Alexa, replacing the previous blue line. Furthermore, Alexa+ will be able to share lengthy documents, which the AI can store, evaluate, and summarize (a functionality referred to as “RAG” by experienced LLM users). Moreover, the new Alexa can add calendar entries based on data from these shared files.
Amazon also emphasized new child-centric features for Alexa+, including videos showcasing the assistant’s ability to create stories and engage with children. The company also demonstrated Alexa+ answering questions about sports and current events.
Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa and Echo divisions, explained how Alexa+ uses models from both Amazon and Anthropic. Alexa+ can also switch models behind the scenes depending on the task, Rausch said. There is more information coming concerning Alexa’s new AI-infused capabilities.
Amazon initially showcased the new Alexa during its hardware event in September 2023, promising a public preview “early” in 2024. The year came and went without a public beta release for the updated Alexa. There were reportedly some issues with the AI, and a version prone to producing hallucinations was described, which gave lengthy and often inaccurate answers and having trouble with basic smart home capabilities.
