Everything you need to know about Amazon Alexa+
The virtual assistant has been given an AI-powered revamp.
Amazon has unveiled its “complete rearchitecture” of virtual assistant Alexa, which it has given a major generative AI-powered revamp.
Alexa+ has a new voice, is smarter, more powerful and able to do far more, Amazon says – and has a subscription price for the first time for those who are not Amazon Prime customers.
Here is a closer look at the newly updated virtual assistant.
– What’s new in Alexa+?
In short, Amazon says Alexa+ enables users to do far more thanks to its AI-powered update, which enables the assistant to work more seamlessly across different apps and services to help users with tasks.
Amazon services boss Panos Panay compared using it to an orchestra – with all the different instruments needing a conductor – Alexa – to bring them together.
In practical terms, Amazon says this means users will now be able to ask it to make purchases for you, as well as make reservations and then add these details to relevant calendars and text those involved the key details.
The assistant is also now more conversational and able to better pick up context and follow-up questions, with users even able to tell it to remember certain details about people, such as food preferences, or to suggest meal ideas based on those preferences.
In addition, Amazon has added two key new features to Alexa’s capabilities.
The first is the ability to upload files to the assistant for the first time, including large documents, which users can ask Alexa to summarise and pull out key details from quickly, setting reminders or adding to calendars accordingly.
The second is AI agent capabilities, which refers to the ability for a AI app to carry out a task it is set by the user autonomously.
In this instance, Alexa+ will be able to browse the web – and interact with the websites of Amazon partners – to buy things, make appointments and reservations or book services based on what task the user sets it.
On stage at its announcement event, Amazon demoed Alexa finding and booking an appliance repair service for a user after their oven broke.
– How is it more powerful?
The new Alexa+ is powered by a range of AI and large language models, Amazon said, which uses Amazon’s Bedrock service – a kind of menu for AI models – to serve up the most appropriate model to carry out a specific task each time.
Amazon’s own, new model, Nova, is one of those included, as is AI firm Anthropic’s – the company behind the Claude chatbot and which Amazon is a major investor in.
– Is it still free to use?
For Amazon Prime users, Alexa+ will indeed be free to use once it becomes available.
However, for those without a Prime membership, Alexa+ will cost 20 US dollars a month to access.
– When will it be available?
Amazon said Alexa+ will start rolling out in the US first, in the coming weeks, and in subsequent waves in the following months to households with the firm’s screen-enabled Echo smart home devices, the Echo Show 8, 10, 15 and 21.
Alexa+ will also be accessible via Alexa.com and via a smartphone app, Amazon said.
The company has not yet confirmed a specific launch date or price for the UK.
