Michael Heiss shares insights into Amazon Alexa+ following news of its planned US launch in March 2025.
These days you can hardly take in a story on the news or look at an ad for a product or service without being confronted with two ubiquitous letters: “AI”.
Despite that ubiquity one often wonders exactly what it does and how do you use it? Do you simply sit back and worry about AI doing its own thing, like the monster computer in a Sci Fi movie? Do you have to navigate the proper wording to ask an AI programme a question on your computer or phone?
Long rumoured, Alexa+ will be the first major update at the Alexa system. AI is at the core of the software, interface, and search response to voice queries. For many, this will be their first daily encounter with AI as an interface and engine.
US launch
Details momentarily, but it is important to start with some caveats. First, although Alexa+ will begin rolling out in March 2025, it will initially be available only in the US. Global expansion will inevitably follow, but the timing for that is unknown.
Also, in explaining this to clients and prospects two other things to note. First, this is going to be a paid service. US pricing at launch is $19.99 USD per month, but it will be free for all Prime Members. Given that Prime now costs $14.99 USD per month or $139 USD for a one-year membership, you might see this as a great addition or a reason to sign up for Prime even if you don’t use any of the other benefits - saving over $100 in the balance. Again, remember that pricing for territories outside the US is still to be announced.
Second, on the hardware side of things, Alexa+ will work with many Alexa and Echo products but not all. At US launch it will be available to the Echo Show 8, 10, 15 and 21 models with roll out to most other Echo products - including non-screen, with audio-only devices to follow.
Alexa+ will also be available as an update to Fire TV sets and streaming devices, alongside a new phone app and web browser. If you are working with clients looking to update their Alexa ecosystem, note it will not be available on older generation Echo Dot 1st Gen, Echo 1st Gen, Echo Plus 1st Gen, Echo Tap, Echo Show 1st Gen, Echo Show 2nd Gen, and Echo Spot 1st Gen models.
Note also that, for now, Alexa+ will work only with Amazon’s own Alexa/Echo products. It will not be available in third-party “Works with Alexa” products. All non-compatible Alexa products will continue to work with the current “classic” version of Alexa.
High points
That all said, what are the high point features of Alexa+? At the top level it expands Alexa responses by making them more interactive, with the ability to do more than simply answer questions, show news, and set timers. On the input side, Alexa+ is more conversational, allowing you to speak back and forth to refine a search or drill down to clarify commands.
To do this requires a number of LLM sources: Amazon is partnering with major news and information providers, as well as third-party delivery services and device brands. For ex-US introduction that list is likely to be regionalised, but familiar examples include Uber, Wyze, Dyson, Honeywell, Samsung and many others. As one might expect, Amazon’s own products and services are all in, including Ring products, Amazon Prime and Amazon Music. Most importantly, Alexa+ will allow users to upload documents that align with searches and shopping habits to create a personal LLM.
With that, the obvious question will be: “So what does this all do for me that Alexa doesn’t do now?”. The starting point is the use of conversational queries that allow users to fine tune specifics, such as selecting what is at hand. For example, you can start by asking when your favorite team is playing out of town and Alexa+ will tell you. From there you can drill down to a specific date, find the prices and availability of seating in your team’s visiting section, get an associated ticket service to find or reserve the seats, notify you when they are available for purchase and then put them on your calendar. Of course, Alexa+ will also send you reminders and perhaps even book travel arrangements.
Alexa+ intends to make life simpler with calendar maintenance and event reminders (Image: Amazon)
Another example using your personally updated documents would be to load in your emails from a particular sender such as your children’s schools and then summarise them with key point messages. Then, it can not only calendar events and send reminders but tell you what the emails detail - such as your assignment for the third grade play requiring a post-play snack shopping list. Of course, the full calendar and events will be visible on your Echo Show device.
With Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Music under the same corporate roof, there are new home entertainment feature options driven by AI. The user's personal LLM will be a key part of the new features. On the simple side, you can tell Alexa+ to move audio content from one speaker in a room to another, or to a different room in the house. Or, you can tell it to play music “everywhere but don’t wake the baby” without specifying the specific room. Do you want to play the song heard during a TV show’s opening? Alexa+ can search for it without knowing the artist or song title. For video content it can jump to a specific scene in a movie.
Smart home integration
On the home security and control front, Ring devices and potentially other brands feed into the AI maw. You have always been able to ask Alexa to show you a certain camera, but with the intelligence of Alexa+ you may learn more about packages delivered. The response will show you the results at the proper door, supported by integration with Amazon to tell you what is in the package.
AI search with Ring camera images is one way Alexa+ will make smart home integration more efficient (Image: Amazon)
The Alexa+ smart home dashboard provides a quick view for organisation, while being a portal for conversation (Image: Amazon)
Additional applications will be added as this all moves forward, including the ability to generate songs or tailor content to youngsters. As is the case with any AI-based system, the capabilities will grow as the LLM gets smarter from data, queries, experiences and other inputs. The cautionary note, however, is that there will be concerns about privacy and perhaps potential issues with hallucinations - as with any AI system. Time will tell.
Amazon isn’t the first to this game with Alexa+. In fact, some might say the tech giant is late to the party, behind existing competitors such as Chat GPT, Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s CoPilot and others. This is an “everyone wants to get into the act” sort of thing. CES announcements highlighted that CoPilot is doing similar things with new LG and Samsung TVs, while TCL and Hisense promise AI enhancements powered by Google’s Gemini.
Also sitting in the “late to the full AI service suite with a video-centric device" is Apple, but all the pundits expect the Cupertino giant to jump in to the space sooner than later with products and an updated version of Siri and HomeKit. We’ll be watching the keynotes at WWDC, along with any product announcements.
There is much more to Alexa+ than there is space to detail here, and a reminder that the feature set and list of third-party services will evolve as it reaches the EMEA and UK markets. Consider this a taste of things to come so that you are prepared and able to answer questions for now. When Alexa+ arrives on your side of the pond, we’ll certainly bring you a further update.