Amazon has introduced an improved, next-gen version of its Alexa voice assistant. Called Alexa+, it comes as no surprise that this technology is now powered by generative AI, which makes her smarter, more conversational, and personalized.
From with Amazon Prime, Alexa+ can play music, help you learn, and keep you organized as she always has been capable of doing. Now, she can also more intelligently and seamlessly summarize complex topics, manage and protect your home, make reservations, search and buy items online, and make useful suggestions.
Talking to Alexa+ is now easier. You can speak in half-formed thoughts, use colloquial expressions, and explore complex ideas. Alexa+ understands what you mean and responds appropriately, all thanks to large language models (LLMs) available on Amazon Bedrock.
The ability for Alexa+ to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices is through a new concept called “experts,” which are groups of systems, capabilities, APIs, and instructions that can accomplish specific tasks for customers. Through this, it can control smart home products from brands like Philips Hue and Roborock; make reservations or appointments with OpenTable and Vagaro; explore discographies and play music from providers like Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, and iHeartRadio; order groceries from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market, or takeout from Grubhub and Uber Eats; remind you when tickets go on sale on Ticketmaster; and use Ring to alert you if someone is approaching your house.
There are also new agentic capabilities, which enable Alexa+ to navigate the internet in a
self-directed way to complete tasks on your behalf, behind the scenes. If you needed to get your oven fixed, for example, it could use Thumbtack to find the right service provider, authenticate, arrange a repair, and let you know once it’s done.
Personalization comes in since Alexa knows what you have purchased, listened to, watched, to which addresses you often ship items, and how you like to pay. You can ask her to remember things like family recipes, important dates, facts, dietary preferences, and more, and she can apply that knowledge to take useful action. For example, if you are planning a dinner for the family, Alexa+ can remember that you love pizza, your daughter is vegetarian, and your partner is gluten-free, to suggest a recipe or restaurant that meets all these needs.
Alexa+ can also provide proactive recommendations, like suggesting you leave a little earlier than usual because there’s heavy traffic on your route to work today, or let you know when a gift you have been eying is on sale.
Using a compatible Alexa device, you could tell Alexa to play a specific TV show on your Fire TV in the living room, move music to different speakers, or see if your package has been delivered via a Ring camera.
There will be a new iOS and Android Alexa+ mobile app along with an enhanced Alexa.com experience via web browser. You can interact with Alexa through multiple devices, seamlessly switching among them. Start a conversation from an Echo device at home, for example, continue from your phone in the car, then resume on your computer. Alexa+ remembers the context and can continue the conversation fluidly.
Through LLMs, Alexa+ is also smarter, and is continuously learning. If you choose to share documents, e-mails, photos, and messages, Alexa can remember, summarize, or take action if needed. This could be through sending a photo of a conference schedule, for example, so she can add the items to your calendar, use your child’s study materials to generate a practice quiz, or send an e-mail and ask for reminders for the dates noted in it.
Privacy and security is always of the utmost importance. Alexa+ interactions and settings are available in the Alexa Privacy dashboard, which is built on the secure infrastructure of AWS.
Alexa+ costs $20/mo. but comes free for all Amazon Prime members. It will be rolling out in the U.S. over the next few weeks for early access subscribers who own Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices, then in waves in the coming months for others.