Amazon Launches AI-Alexa Plus

After years and billions of dollars in development, Amazon unveiled its new AI-powered version of Alexa, Alexa Plus, which will start to roll out to users next month on Echo and Fire TV devices.

Why It Hits: The company may be late to the game (relative to the lightning-fast rollout of its rivals) when it comes to its AI offerings, but the sheer number of Amazon devices out in the wild could quickly make it a mainstream leader.

Behind the Code: Amazon head of devices Panos Panay showed off Alexa Plus during a live event yesterday:

• The revamped voice assistant can answer questions in a conversational way, remember preferences and personal details, carry out agentic tasks like making reservations or purchasing tickets, control your smart-home devices, and create itineraries.
• You can also share documents with Alexa, like recipes or contracts, that it can memorize, analyze, or summarize. The chatbot can also generate images, stories, and songs.
• Many of these tasks can be performed, thanks to deals with brands like Uber Eats, Zoom, and Ticketmaster, as well as partnerships with publishers such as The Associated Press, Politico, and The Washington Post.
• Alexa is now also “model agnostic” — meaning it can use the Amazon Nova model to complete a request or draw on third-party systems like Anthropic’s Claude.

The Future: Alexa Plus — free with Prime or $19.99/month as a standalone service — is also getting a new app to go along with it. Users on the app and Echo devices will see a “fluctuating blue bar at the bottom of the interface” and display “little animations and icons,” per The Verge. Panay said these are “Alexicons” that show off the chatbot’s personality.

Not sure about you, but we’re getting major Her vibes.