Alexa+, the modernized version of Amazon’s Alexa, was unveiled on Wednesday, bringing the voice assistant into the new era of artificial intelligence.
This advanced version of Alexa has an enhanced conversational ability, incorporates the user’s personal preferences into its responses, and can perform specific tasks on the user’s behalf, such as making reservations for a concert, according to Amazon. The service costs US$ 19,99 per month, although it will be free for Amazon Prime subscribers; early access will be launched next month.
Amazon aims with the new Alexa to compete with the recent wave of intelligent virtual assistants that have gained popularity since 2022, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
In its race with the competition, Amazon seeks to develop what it considers will be the evolution of AI chatbots: AI agents capable of making purchases or handling real‑world tasks on your behalf, such as returning an item bought online or scheduling a repair visit for your kitchen.
Alexa+ represents a crucial aspect of Amazon’s effort to update Alexa to the current generation of chatbots.
What Alexa+ can do
Amazon highlights Alexa’s ability to incorporate the user’s personal context, using specific apps and services, as a distinguishing feature compared to chatbots like ChatGPT. Apple and Google are also implementing a similar approach with their virtual assistants.
In a promotional video, it showed how Alexa+ executes commands such as informing a user about their annual reading history, booking their
