Alexa+, the upgraded generative AI-powered version of Amazon’s Alexa assistant, is now available to all U.S. customers as of Wednesday. According to the company, the AI features are available for free to Prime members on any device. Alexa+, on the other hand, is free for anyone to use via the Alexa website or mobile app, but there are some limitations.
“Currently, we have tens of millions of customers using Alexa+, and going forward we will make it available to all Prime members. Prime members will enjoy unlimited access, which is essentially the paid level of access that is currently included with Prime,” Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa and Echo, said in an interview with TechCrunch.
Alexa+, introduced last year, is model agnostic. That means it runs on a combination of Amazon’s own underlying models and those from other companies, allowing your assistant to do more than the basic tasks of its predecessors, using the best AI technology for the job.
As an AI assistant, Alexa+ can conduct natural language conversations, including follow-up questions and back-and-forth chats.
In addition to performing smart home tasks, scheduling timers, and providing news and weather as before, the new assistant can do most things other AI chatbots can do, including planning travel itineraries, updating shared calendars, finding recipes and saving them to your library, making movie recommendations, helping with homework, exploring topics, and more.
Additionally, integrations with services like Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, Uber, Angi, Expedia, Square, Yelp, Fodor’s, OpenTable, and Suno allow Alexa to perform more complex tasks like making dinner reservations or requesting an Uber ride. Amazon has not yet disclosed user adoption numbers for this more “agent-like” use case for AI helpers, where the AI works autonomously to complete tasks.
During the year-long beta testing period, Alexa customers had the option to try out the AI features or roll back to a previous version. The company told TechCrunch that the option to revert to the old Alexa will still be available, but it couldn’t say for how long. Perhaps Amazon wants more time to improve the AI experience before making it a requirement for users. The percentage of people opting out is also an important metric to track, but Rausch points out that the number is in the low single digits, suggesting that most customers aren’t so dissatisfied with Alexa+ that they’ve given up on it.
Still, Amazon had to iron out bugs and address user feedback before this launch. For example, some beta testers complained that Alexa+ was too chatty or interrupted at the wrong times. Some people complained about Alexa’s new voice.
Amazon has taken this feedback and made changes over time. For example, some people prefer Alexa’s “OG” voice, so the company revised its onboarding experience to have Alexa explain how to change its voice. (That voice is still available as Alexa+ Voice No. 2, but now uses AI to add more intonation.)
“We ended up having her use a new version of her old voice and switch it back up just to show it to customers,” Rausch says of the changes the team made to onboarding.
In another example, Amazon attempted to make Alexa less susceptible to unwanted interruptions. Now Alexa asks, “Is it for me?” If you’re not sure who the AI is addressed to.
Rausch points out that the overall experience is also configurable. For example, if a customer doesn’t want follow-on mode (which allows Alexa to continue listening after a response), they can turn it off.
When asked if users can change the AI assistant’s personality, like other AI chatbots, the AI can be personal, professional, quirky, geeky, etc., Rausch simply said, “Stay tuned.”
During the beta period, Amazon reported positive adoption trends in terms of both usage and engagement, with very few customers choosing to rollback. After customers upgraded to Alexa+, music streams increased by 25%, more customers were more engaged with recipes, and the feature grew 5x.
Overall, customers are having 2-3x more conversations with Alexa+ compared to the original Alexa.
Alexa+ is free to U.S. Prime members, but non-Prime customers can choose to pay $19.99 per month for standalone access. This is a price comparable to the likes of ChatGPT Plus.
Amazon says there are some limitations to the free trial on web and mobile, but these are primarily in place to prevent abuse.
“I think we have some nice, generous limits. We’re not exactly talking today about what those are, but… there are some (limitations),” Rausch said.
The Alexa+ experience in the U.S. is now available on Alexa devices, including Echo products, Fire TV, Alexa.com, the Alexa mobile app, and Alexa-enabled devices from partners like Samsung and Bose, with more to come.
