Alexa+, Amazon’s upgraded, generative AI-powered version of its Alexa assistant, is available to all U.S. customers as of Wednesday. The company said that the AI feature will be free to Prime members across devices. Meanwhile, anyone can use Alexa+ for free via the Alexa website or mobile app, with some limitations.
“We have tens of millions of customers using Alexa+ now, and now we’re going to make it available to all Prime members…Prime members enjoy unlimited access — it’s basically a paid tier level of access that we’re including in Prime now,” notes Daniel Rausch, VP of Alexa and Echo at Amazon, in an interview with TechCrunch.
Announced last year, Alexa+ is model agnostic — meaning it runs on a combination of Amazon’s own foundation models and those from other companies, allowing the assistant to do more than the basic tasks of its predecessor using whatever AI technology is best for the job.
As an AI assistant, Alexa+ can carry on natural language conversations that include follow-up questions and back-and-forth chat.
In addition to performing smart home tasks, scheduling timers, or offering news and weather, as before, the new assistant can do most things that other AI chatbots can do — like planning an itinerary for a trip, updating a shared calendar, finding and saving recipes to a library, making movie recommendations, helping with homework, exploring a topic, and more.
Plus, integrations with services like Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, Uber, Angi, Expedia, Square, Yelp, Fodor’s, OpenTable, and Suno will allow Alexa to perform more complex tasks, like scheduling a dinner reservation or requesting an Uber ride. Amazon has not yet shared user adoption numbers on this more “agentic” use case (where the AI acts autonomously to complete tasks) for the AI helper.
During its year-long beta testing period, Alexa customers had the option to try the AI feature or roll back to the prior version. The company tells TechCrunch the option to revert to the old Alexa will continue to be available, but couldn’t say for how long. Likely, Amazon wants a bit more time to improve the AI experience before making it a requirement for users. The percentage of those opting out is also a key metric to track, but Rausch notes that the figure is in the low single digits, suggesting that most customers are not so unhappy with Alexa+ that they’re giving up.
Still, Amazon has had to work to resolve bugs and address user feedback ahead of this launch. Some beta testers complained that Alexa+ was too chatty, or interrupted at the wrong times, for instance. Others complained about Alexa’s new voice.
Amazon has taken in this feedback and made changes over time. For instance, the company revised the onboarding experience to have Alexa explain how to change her voice, as some preferred Alexa’s “OG” voice. (That voice is still available as Alexa+ voice No. 2, but it now uses AI to add more inflection.)
“Eventually, we had her use her new version of her old voice, and then switch back again, just to show customers,” says Rausch, describing the changes the team made to onboarding.
In another example, Amazon tried to make Alexa less prone to unwanted interruptions. Now, Alexa will ask, “Is that for me?” when the AI is unsure who is being addressed.
Rausch points out that the overall experience is configurable, too. If customers don’t want the follow-on mode, for instance — which allows Alexa to continue listening after responding — they can turn it off.
Asked if users will be able to change the AI assistant’s personality, as in other AI chatbots, where the AI can be set to be personal, professional, quirky, nerdy, and more, Rausch says simply, “Stay tuned.”
During the beta, Amazon reported positive adoption trends in terms of both usage and engagement, with few customers opting for rollbacks. Music streams increased by 25% after customers upgraded to Alexa+, and more customers are engaging deeply with recipes, a feature that has seen 5x growth.
Overall, customers are having 2 to 3 times more conversations with Alexa+, compared with the original Alexa.
While Alexa+ will be free to U.S. Prime members, non-Prime customers could opt to pay $19.99/month for standalone access — a price that’s comparable to something like ChatGPT Plus.
Amazon notes the free experience on web and mobile will have some limits, but these are mainly in place to protect against abuse.
“I think we’ve got some great, generous limits. We’re not talking about exactly what they are today, but…there are some [limits],” Rausch says.
The Alexa+ experience in the U.S. will be available across Alexa devices, including Echo products, Fire TV, Alexa.com, the Alexa mobile app, and Alexa-enabled devices from partners including Samsung, Bose, and others, with more to come.
