AI is coming to your TV whether you want it or not.
Amazon announced Wednesday that its AI assistant Alexa+ will be rolling out for free to all compatible Fire TV devices in the United States, regardless of whether customers have a Prime subscription. The company says the update offers conversational search, smart home controls, and AI-powered recommendations.
Alexa+ previously cost $19.99 per month for those without an Amazon Prime membership and was initially available on new Fire TV devices the company announced last fall.
Now, Amazon says everyone will be automatically upgraded to Alexa+. There’s no need to download an app or sign up for a subscription. Compatible devices include all current-generation Amazon Fire TV Sticks, Fire TV Cubes, Amazon Ember smart TVs, and other smart TVs with built-in Alexa+, including Hisense and Panasonic.
The move follows an industry-wide effort to make AI services available to more consumer electronics devices through upgrades that are often not an option. For example, Google rolled out Gemini to its Google TV platform earlier this year, replacing simple search functionality with an AI-powered conversation mode. Roku also upgraded its voice assistant to AI last year.
Both companies point to metrics such as feature usage time to suggest positive consumer adoption trends. For example, according to Amazon, Alexa+ customers now have nearly twice as many conversations on Fire TV compared to the original Alexa. This seems to suggest that Alexa+ customers are no longer using their TV solely as a source of relaxing entertainment, but are also leveraging AI instead.
Whether that’s a good thing or not is debatable.
Amazon says that with Alexa+, users no longer have to ask for a show by title, but instead can ask for suggestions based on other factors such as theme, age, and popularity — such as “top-rated thrillers” or “historical dramas with strong female leads.”
AI bots also help customers manage and control their smart homes, including displaying Ring camera feeds on TVs.
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