Amazon has been centered on bringing generative AI to Alexa for the previous few years, hitting a number of delays in launching new options that the corporate first introduced in September 2023. The delayed Alexa 2.0 was poised for a 2025 launch, and Amazon held a late February occasion the place it made massive bulletins for the factitious intelligence-powered digital assistant.
Amid rumors of Alexa 2.0 shortcomings, Amazon skipped its 2024 Gadgets and Providers occasion, the place the corporate sometimes publicizes new Alexa options and {hardware} gadgets. As a substitute, it unveiled Alexa+ final month, the voice assistant’s generative AI options, and at last put an ETA on its launch.
“Up till a few years in the past, it was fairly tough to invent with AI, and that modified with the arrival of foundational fashions and generative AI. This made the know-how rather more accessible, so folks can see the facility and magic of what generative AI can do,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated.
The occasion, which came about on Feb. 26 in New York Metropolis, was Panos Panay’s first since becoming a member of the Gadgets and Providers division after his Microsoft exit. Along with new Alexa options, Amazon additionally made different bulletins.
Every part introduced at Amazon’s February 2025 occasion
Generative AI in Alexa+
Giving Alexa the facility of generative AI was already anticipated to be the star announcement from Amazon — and it was. Over the past Gadgets and Providers occasion in 2023, Amazon introduced a gen AI-powered ‘Alexa+’ or Alexa Plus and a brand new consumer interface coming to an Echo machine close to you, and the corporate is now making it extra actual than ever earlier than.
Panay likened the evolution of Alexa and its obstacle-ridden highway towards generative AI to a symphony warming up earlier than a live performance and the way the conductor raises the baton to remodel “disconnected sounds right into a masterpiece.”
Alexa+ will reply with a extra pure cadence, deal with a number of prompts in a session, and generate content material as an alternative of offering canned solutions to questions. It’s going to additionally function larger customization energy to recollect consumer preferences (suppose like ChatGPT’s Reminiscence) for extra productive consumer interactions, studying “the rhythm of your life,” in keeping with Panay.
Other than all of this, Alexa+ has contextual consciousness, so it could possibly maintain lengthy conversations and bear in mind what you requested earlier than your final questions as an alternative of giving canned responses from Alexa Solutions contributors. As Amazon demoed, it could possibly additionally learn and course of paperwork so that you can reply questions, like college calendars or an HOA CC&R doc.
Alexa+ launch date
The brand new Alexa+ will start rolling out subsequent month to some customers in an early entry method, with a gradual rollout after that.
Amazon stated little in regards to the new Alexa after the 2023 occasion, with rumors suggesting that the corporate was repeatedly pressured to delay its gen AI launch resulting from poor efficiency. Fortunately, Amazon appears to have lastly smoothed out its Alexa 2.0.
Whereas Alexa dominates the US marketplace for digital assistants, most well-liked by two-thirds of People, it has additionally lately fallen behind different assistants, together with Google and, most lately, Siri. The discharge of OpenAI’s ChatGPT lately triggered a tidal wave of generative AI that pushed different digital assistants ashore. On the identical time, Alexa seems to have sunk to the underside of the ocean — till now.
The brand new breed of gen AI-powered digital assistants — ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot powered by OpenAI’s applied sciences, Google Assistant-powered by Gemini, and Siri powered by Apple LLMs — have surged forward previously two years. We will solely wait to see how effectively the brand new Alexa+, powered by Amazon Bedrock fashions, together with Nova and Anthropic, will carry out in real-world eventualities.
Alexa+ subscription tiers
Amazon’s Alexa+ will work behind a subscription service that can price $20 month-to-month however shall be free for Prime subscribers. A subscription-based system has been rumored for a couple of yr, so this did not come as a shock, however the rumors stated it was deliberate to price between $5-$10 month-to-month, not $20. At this price, Alexa+ is similar worth as a ChatGPT Plus subscription.
The “Basic Alexa” will nonetheless be obtainable for customers preferring to not pay the month-to-month payment, although it isn’t identified how lengthy Amazon plans to take care of the present model.
A brand new Echo Present consumer interface
Amazon additionally introduced a brand new revamped platform for the Echo Present with the launch of Alexa+. The brand new look within the Echo Present interface looks like it will likely be obtainable within the bigger Echo Present shows for now. Alexa+ may also have integrations together with your Ring subscriptions to supply a brand new expertise on the Echo Present.
The redesigned Echo Present consumer interface encompasses a sleeker structure to your favourite widgets and a cohesive look all through the display. Alexa+ is bringing adaptive show to the massive Echo Present gadgets, the Echo Present 15 and Echo Present 21, to point out a simplified view from afar that transitions to a personalized display if you method the machine.
