Amazon's new AI-powered Alexa promises to be your 'best friend in a
digital world' for a monthly fee
 [February 27, 2025] By
HALELUYA HADERO and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
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 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.
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People attend an event where Amazon on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025,
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. (AP Photo/Wyatte
Grantham-Philips)
 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.
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