Amazon's AI Assistant Alexa+ Lands on Web via Alexa.com

Amazon has unveiled a comprehensive AI-powered overhaul of its digital assistant, now rebranded as Alexa+, which is set to expand beyond devices and onto the web. At its keynote event on Monday during CES in Las Vegas, the company announced the official launch of a new website—Alexa.com—that’s currently rolling out to early-access users of Alexa+. The site enables customers to interact with Alexa+ online, similar to how they’d engage with other AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.

Despite having sold over 600 million Alexa-enabled devices worldwide—including its own Echo smart speakers and displays—Amazon recognizes that for its virtual assistant to remain competitive, it must be omnipresent: not just in homes, but also on mobile devices and web browsers.

This broader accessibility means anyone can now interact with Alexa+ even without owning an Echo device at home.

In line with this expansion, Amazon is revamping its Alexa mobile app to offer a more “agent-first” experience. The updated interface centers around a chatbot-style layout prominently featured on the app's home screen, making it resemble mainstream generative AI tools. While chat functionality existed before, the new design prioritizes conversational interactions, pushing secondary features into the background.

On Alexa.com, users can leverage Alexa+ for everyday tasks such as exploring complex topics, generating content, and planning trips. However, Amazon aims to differentiate its assistant by focusing on household needs. This includes managing smart home devices—a core feature of the original Alexa—but extends further to actions like updating family calendars and to-do lists, booking dinners, adding grocery items to Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods carts, saving recipes to personal collections, and even curating personalized movie night suggestions for the household.

Recently, Amazon has been integrating additional third-party services into Alexa+, including Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp. These join existing integrations like Fodor’s, OpenTable, Suno, Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, and Uber, enhancing Alexa+'s utility across lifestyle and productivity scenarios.

The Alexa.com platform features a navigation sidebar for quick access to frequently used functions, allowing seamless management of routine activities such as adjusting thermostats, checking calendar appointments, or reviewing shopping lists.

Furthermore, Amazon is encouraging users to grant Alexa+ access to personal files, emails, and calendars so the AI can act as a centralized hub for managing household logistics—from tracking school holidays and youth soccer schedules to monitoring medical appointments and key reminders, such as when the dog last received a rabies vaccine or the date of a neighbor’s backyard barbecue.

This represents a strategic challenge for Amazon, given it lacks a native productivity suite or the vast troves of personal data that Google holds through its ecosystem. Instead, Amazon relies on tools that allow users to forward or upload documents directly to Alexa+ for processing—an approach that will also be supported on Alexa.com. Information shared this way can appear on Echo Show screens and be managed there as well.

If executed effectively, Alexa+'s ability to organize and act upon personal household data could become its strongest value proposition.

"76% of customers use Alexa+ for things no other AI can do," said Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Alexa and Echo at Amazon, in an interview with TechCrunch. "I think that's a really interesting stat for Alexa+ for two reasons."

He continued, "First, because customers rely on Alexa for unique, personalized tasks. For example, you can send Alexa a photo of an old family recipe, and then have it guide you step-by-step through cooking it in the kitchen—substituting ingredients based on what you already have at home—and complete the entire process seamlessly."

Rausch also noted that the remaining 24% of users perform tasks with Alexa+ that are possible with other AIs—a trend he interprets as a sign that people are increasingly shifting their AI usage toward Alexa+.

Alexa.com is initially available only to early-access users who log in with their Amazon accounts. Since the initial rollout of Alexa+ earlier last year, Amazon has gradually expanded access.

Rausch revealed that more than 10 million consumers now have access to Alexa+, and these users are engaging in two to three times more conversations compared to the original Alexa. Specifically, shopping interactions have tripled, recipe-related queries have increased fivefold, and heavy smart home users are controlling their devices 50% more frequently via Alexa+ than before.

That said, there have been reports on social media and online forums about glitches and errors involving Alexa+. Rausch acknowledged these concerns but argued they’re disproportionately amplified online. He stated that the number of users opting out after trying Alexa+ remains in the single digits—or, as he put it, “practically… almost none.”

“97% of Alexa devices support Alexa+, and we’re seeing strong adoption, with customers using Alexa across multiple generations of hardware,” Rausch added. “We maintain full backward compatibility with all original Alexa capabilities, and every service and device previously integrated with Alexa carries over into the Alexa+ experience.”