Alexa+, Amazon's AI Assistant, Now Fully Available in the U.S.

Alexa+, the enhanced generative AI-powered version of Amazon's Alexa assistant, became available to all U.S. customers starting Wednesday. The company stated that this AI feature will be provided free to Prime members across all devices. Concurrently, anyone can use Alexa+ for free via the Alexa website or mobile app, albeit with certain limitations.

"We currently have tens of millions of customers using Alexa+, and now we are opening it up to all Prime members... Prime members enjoy unlimited access—this essentially represents a paid-tier level of access that we now include with Prime," said Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Alexa and Echo at Amazon, in an interview with TechCrunch.

Announced last year, Alexa+ is model-agnostic—meaning it operates on a combination of Amazon's own foundational models and models from other companies. This enables the assistant to utilize the most suitable AI technology for the task, allowing it to handle more fundamental duties than its predecessor.

As an AI assistant, Alexa+ can engage in natural language conversations, including follow-up questions and back-and-forth dialogue.

Beyond performing smart home tasks, setting timers, or providing news and weather updates, the new assistant can accomplish most tasks typical of other AI chatbots. These include planning travel itineraries, updating shared calendars, finding and saving recipes to a library, offering movie recommendations, assisting with homework, and exploring various topics.

Furthermore, integrations with services like Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, Uber, Angi, Expedia, Square, Yelp, Fodor’s, OpenTable, and Suno will enable Alexa to perform more complex tasks, such as arranging dinner reservations or requesting an Uber ride. Amazon has not yet shared user adoption data for these more "agentic" use cases, where AI autonomously completes tasks.

During a one-year testing period, Alexa customers had the option to try the AI features or revert to the previous version. The company informed TechCrunch that the option to return to the older Alexa will remain available, though it's uncertain for how long. Presumably, Amazon desires more time to refine the AI experience before making it mandatory for users. The opt-out percentage is also a key metric, but Rausch noted this figure is in the low single digits, suggesting most customers are not dissatisfied enough with Alexa+ to abandon it.

Nonetheless, Amazon had to address bugs and user feedback prior to this launch. Some testers complained that Alexa+ was overly talkative or interrupted at inopportune times. Others, for instance, expressed dissatisfaction with Alexa's new voice.

Amazon has incorporated this feedback and made adjustments over time. For example, the company revised the onboarding experience to have Alexa explain how to change her voice, as some users preferred Alexa's "original" voice. (That voice remains available as Alexa+ Voice #2, but now features more intonation added via AI.)

"Ultimately, we had her use a new version of her old voice and then switch back, just to demonstrate this to customers," Rausch described the team's changes to the onboarding process.

In another instance, Amazon worked to make Alexa less prone to unnecessary interruptions. Now, when the AI is unsure who is being addressed, Alexa asks, "Is this for me?"

Rausch pointed out that the overall experience is also configurable. For instance, if customers do not want follow-up mode—which allows Alexa to continue listening after a response—they can disable it.

When asked if users would be able to alter the AI assistant's personality, similar to other AI chatbots that can be set to personal, professional, quirky, nerdy, etc., Rausch simply replied, "Stay tuned."

During the testing phase, Amazon reported positive adoption trends in usage and engagement, with very few customers choosing to roll back. After upgrading to Alexa+, music streaming increased by 25%, and more customers engaged deeply with recipes, a feature that saw a fivefold growth.

Overall, customers engaged in two to three times more conversations with Alexa+ compared to the original Alexa.

While Alexa+ is free for U.S. Prime members, non-Prime customers can opt to pay $19.99 per month for standalone access—a price point similar to ChatGPT Plus.

Amazon noted that the free experience on the web and mobile devices will have some limitations, primarily in place to prevent abuse.

"I think we have some great, generous limits. We won't specify what they are today, but... there certainly are [limits]," Rausch said.

The Alexa+ experience in the U.S. will be available on Echo products, Fire TV, Alexa.com, the Alexa mobile app, and Alexa devices from partners including Samsung and Bose, with more devices to be added.