Amazon Wants to Take on AI Competitors with Alexa+

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Feb 28, 2025 - 00:55

The last few years have been interesting to see especially when it comes to AI-based software assistants, such as ones that we’ve seen from the likes of Google and OpenAI. One recent addition is Amazon, which has just announced a new and more powerful AI assistant by way of “Alexa+,” although there’s a catch.

READ: Budding developers can check out a free version of Google’s Gemini AI coding tool

While Alexa usually came free with supported Amazon devices and even third-party hardware, Amazon is pricing Alexa+ with a 20-dollar monthly fee. If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber however, Alexa+ does come free with your monthly plan. Amazon adds that it will initially roll out for the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 (no word yet on older devices).

As for what it can do, Amazon states that Alexa+’s smarts are built upon Amazon Bedrock’s LLMs, with support for “experts” which essentially work behind the scenes and provide specific systems that can handle a variety of instructions and APIs which correspond to a user’s request. Like Gemini and ChatGPT, it’s designed to have a more natural conversational flow.

Alexa+ will also be able to tap into different software and hardware products to perform actions, such as ordering food from Uber Eats, planning a playlist with Spotify, activating lights via Philips Hue, and more. Users can also opt to grant it access to their calendars, emails, appointments and more in order to get a more personalized user experience, allowing Alexa+ to occasionally chime in and give tips and suggestions based on context and user actions.

Amazon Alexa+ will also be available for download via the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

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