Amazon has finally done it. After years of whispers and rumors, the tech giant has unveiled Alexa+, the next-gen voice assistant that has basically had a generative AI brain transplant.
Amazon’s Alexa has been a fixture in many people’s homes for years now (10 years, in fact), handling everything from setting timers, to helping us with recipes, playing our favorite tunes and controlling all of our smart home devices.
But now, it’s getting a serious upgrade, by way of a full-blown AI makeover. Alexa+ isn’t just a minor tweak; it represents a fundamental shift in how we interact with our digital assistants, powered by generative AI and a whole lot of ambition.
Amazon may have gone first, but you can expect the likes of Google and Apple to follow suit soon.
Alexa+ will introduce a whole host of brand new AI-driven capabilities, deeper personalization, and more proactive assistance… but it comes at a price.
Here’s everything you need to know about Alexa+, how it works, and whether it’s worth upgrading.
How much does Alexa Plus cost?
Let’s address the elephant in the room: the cost… Alexa+ will set you back $19.99 a month.
That’s a hefty price, no doubt. But, if you’re a Prime member, you get it for free. Considering Prime is $14.99 Stateside, we don’t think (and surely Amazon doesn’t either) anyone will pay directly for Alexa+.
So that’s good-ish news. When the rumors of Project Banyan and Remarkable Alexa were doing the rounds last year, we fully expected the next-gen Alexa to come at a separate additional outlay.
This two-tiered approach is obviously a strategic move by Bezos and the gang, rewarding its loyal customers while also enticing new ones to join the Prime ecosystem. It’s a classic Amazon play, designed to deepen its grip on our digital lives… and that’s just the start.
What does Alexa Plus do?
Alexa+ isn’t just a smarter version of its predecessor; it’s a fundamentally different beast.
Here’s a rundown of pretty much everything that Amazon has told us it can do, so far, although we’d expect this list to grow as Alexa+’s AI skills broaden.
One of the most significant upgrades is Alexa+’s ability to engage in natural, flowing conversations. It understands context, remembers previous interactions, and responds in a way that feels genuinely human. This should hopefully mean and end to those awkward, stilted, robotic exchanges.
This conversational fluency extends to personalization. Alexa+ learns your preferences, habits, and quirks, tailoring its responses and actions to your specific needs. And not just yours, but everyone in your household too.
Alexa+ goes beyond simple commands, and is able to proactively assist you with tasks by anticipating your needs and likes/dislikes. It can manage your calendar, schedule appointments, send reminders, and even handle tasks like planning events and booking travel.
It can summarize lengthy emails, extract key information from documents, and answer questions based on their content. Imagine forwarding those endless school newsletters and asking Alexa+ to summarize the key points, or uploading your timetable for the next semester and have it seamlessly merged with you calendars, with useful voice reminders set for key classes.
Alexa+ and the smart home
The smart home definitely didn’t get as much air time as the stuff listed above at the big New York launch event but Alexa+ should take smart home control to a whole new level.
With Alexa+, you can can create complex Alexa Routines with simple voice commands, eliminating the need to fumble with the app. So, for example, you could say something like: “When I leave the house on weekday mornings, make sure the heating is turned off, and all the lights and the alarm is set.”
If you have a Ring system, you’ll really be able to make use of the smart home smarts by asking things like: “Did the dog get let out today?” or “Is the car in the driveway?” and Alexa+ can use AI to work out the answers.
Alexa Plus also enhances music discovery and control, allowing you to find obscure songs, control playback across multiple rooms, and even jump to specific scenes on Prime Video.
Amazon has also focused on making Alexa+ a better assistant for families, with features like “Stories with Alexa” and “Explore with Alexa.”
More data for Big Tech
Of course, with all this power comes a whole new wave of security and privacy concerns.
In order to help you with these complex tasks, and essentially organize every aspect of your life, Alexa+ will require access to every aspect of your life.
Alexa+ will need a vast amount of personal data, whether that’s through app and account syncing, APIs, or even documents you upload to the new Alexa.com website, which raises legitimate privacy concerns.
Amazon is actively developing features with third-party businesses that will allow for conversational grocery list creation, seamlessly integrating with services like OpenTable, Ticketmaster and Uber for reservations and transportation.
To create more of these commercial arrangements, Amazon has launched the Alexa AI Multi-Agent SDK, which will empower brands to develop their own agents and integrate them into the Alexa ecosystem.
This open platform approach promises to unlock a wealth of new possibilities, allowing for a more diverse and interconnected AI experience… but it also means a hell of lot more data sharing.
Amazon assures us that it takes privacy seriously, but it’s essential to be aware of the trade-offs involved.
Amazon knows what it is doing… it hasn’t managed to make Alexa a cash cow thus far, but Alexa+ could change all of that.
How does Alexa+ work?
The true power of Alexa+ lies in the sophisticated technology that fuels it. At its core, Alexa+ leverages Amazon Bedrock, a platform that grants access to cutting-edge large language models, or LLMs.
This includes Amazon’s own “Nova” models, as well as those developed by Anthropic, a leading AI research company.
What’s particularly notable is that Alexa+ employs a “model-agnostic” system. This means it doesn’t rely on a single, monolithic AI; instead, it intelligently selects the most appropriate model for each specific task.
This adaptive approach ensures that Alexa+ is always using the best tool for the job, whether it’s summarizing a complex document or engaging in a casual conversation.
Beyond the LLMs, Alexa+ utilizes what Amazon calls “experts.” These are specialized systems that work in concert to handle specific functionalities.
Imagine them as specialized teams within a larger organization, each focusing on a particular area of expertise.
By breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable components, these experts enable Alexa+ to deliver a more natural, capable, and comprehensive level of assistance than ever before.
To keep Alexa+’s knowledge current, Amazon has created partnerships with news organizations like Associated Press, Reuters, TIME, USA TODAY, and Politico. The partnerships ensure that Alexa+ has access to up-to-date information across a wide range of topics, from financial markets to sports statistics.
What devices does Alexa+ work on?
Alexa+ will initially go live in waves across the latest Echo Show devices, such as the 3rd-gen Echo Show 8, Show 10, Show 15 or Show 21.
In demo videos we’ve seen Alexa+ working on even the cheapest Echo of the lot though – the Echo Pop – as well, and the word is that it can actually work across pretty much the entire range, save for a few really ancient Echo speakers like the 1st-gen models and the Tap.
Amazon tells us that Alexa+ will be accessible across multiple devices, from the Echo devices mentioned, to the mobile app, and also a new web browser experience, maintaining conversational context as you move between them.
On Show models, Alexa+ is also giving the digital assistant a visual makeover, with a new adaptive display on offer, which showcases photos and personalized content from a distance, then transforms into a tailored Home screen when you get closer.
This personalized hub will offer easy access to family calendars, music suggestions, a curated ‘For You’ panel with relevant updates, and advanced smart home controls.
When does Alexa+ launch?
Alexa+ is set to go live in the US for “early access” in March 2025.
There’s no word yet on a global rollout.
Final thoughts
Without doubt, Alexa+ is the biggest leap forward in AI voice assistants, bringing more natural conversations, better personalization, and proactive assistance. It transcends the limitations of its predecessors, offering a more intelligent, intuitive, and personalized experience.
But this all comes at a price, and not just a monetary one.
It’s clear that Amazon is aiming to compete with AI-driven assistants like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, positioning Alexa as a true AI-powered household assistant rather than just a voice command system.
Whether people are willing to give up enough information to make that possible remains to be seen… but we’d bet they are.
