Invites to Amazon’s generative AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ have been steadily rolling out. The total number of users has now reached over a million. However, this assistant is not publicly available yet.
Instead, Amazon has been working through its waitlist, sending out invites to those customers who originally signed up to test the service when it became available. Many have shared via social media that they have received an invite for the use of Alexa+, which offers services like more natural and personalized interactions, smart home integration, and expanded capabilities thanks to AI.
Alexa+ is available for free during Early Access and will later be free for Prime customers. Non-Prime users will be able to use the service for $19.99 per month after its public launch.
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Amazon states Alexa+ is easy to talk to, with conversations with the assistant feeling “expansive and natural.” The company also states Alexa+ is designed to take action, and is able to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices. For this, Amazon has created a concept called “experts”—groups of systems, capabilities, APIs, and instructions that accomplish specific types of tasks for customers. The company also states that Alexa+ is highly personalized, and gives users the opportunity to personalize further. In addition, the assistant is stated to have “deep knowledge,” with its use of cutting-edge LLMs.
With its generative AI component, Alexa can take actions like summarizing emails, creating stories, generating quizzes from story guides, making itineraries etc. It can also book concert tickets, make dinner reservations etc. Initial partners on this feature include OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Uber Eats, Tripadvisor, Grubhub, Yelp, Priceline, Viator, Thumbtack, Atom, Fodor’s, and others.
While in early access, Alexa+ will initially be available on Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21 devices in the U.S. Over time, it will expand to more Echo customers, Fire TV users, and Fire tablet users.
Reviews for Alexa+ have been mixed. Several users praised the service, comparing it favourably with Siri. Others have claimed it was “rough around the edges.”
Lance Ulanoff, who has spent a week with Alexa+ early access states “it’s far more conversational, willing to endlessly chat in its default, more natural, dulcet tones. It’s jokey but full of useful information, and probably remembers more of what you tell it about yourself than your best friend. Alexa+ is still missing many features, but it has knowledge so current it might surprise you, and it’s adept at generating images, much like ChatGPT. It’s also a far more capable smart home manager, though it’s still not the smart home magician I need.” He added that Alexa+ was “not fully baked,” but it’s clear that this version “bears little relation to the decade-old predecessor.”
“It’s a full AI that, unlike most on the market, starts off with extensive awareness of you and your connected devices.” Ulanoff says.
It is worth noting that Alexa+ is not currently fully launched but it’s getting close. Amazon says nearly 90% of the features it previously announced have since shipped.