Amazon is set to roll out Alexa+, a next-generation update to its popular voice assistant powered by generative AI, with early access scheduled to begin in March.
The new service, which will coexist with the current Alexa and be offered for $20 a month (free for Prime members), promises enhanced conversational capabilities, improved contextual understanding, and the ability to summarize complex topics and offer personalized suggestions.
During a recent presentation, Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV, outlined how Alexa+ will distinguish itself through deeper integration with third-party services and broader online resources. “Alexa+ isn’t just about answering your questions; it’s about actively interacting with the services you use,” Rausch explained. He detailed three primary integration methods:
Existing App Integrations: Alexa+ already works with tens of thousands of services, including partners such as Uber, Sonos, Samsung, and Xbox, ensuring that many popular apps are readily accessible through voice commands.
Web Navigation Capabilities: For services without dedicated apps or APIs, Alexa+ can navigate websites on behalf of users. In a live demonstration, Rausch showed the assistant accessing the Thumbtack website to hire a professional for oven repairs, streamlining tasks that would otherwise require manual browsing.
Interaction with AI Agents: Alexa+ will also be able to collaborate with AI agents on other sites, allowing users to interact with a single, unified assistant rather than multiple chatbots. One example highlighted involved generating a country-style song through an AI music generator.
Rausch emphasized that upgrading to Alexa+ will be seamless, with no need for additional sign-ins or complex setups. “Customers love Alexa because it takes away the complexity,” he said. “We would never take that away. Whether it’s setting up connected devices or adding new services, Alexa+ is designed to make the process even simpler.”
Addressing potential concerns about the reliability of generative AI, Rausch noted that Alexa+ employs a combination of large language models, Amazon’s knowledge graphs, and trusted online sources. “LLMs are at the foundation, but they’re not the only thing answering the question,” he remarked, adding that the assistant is built to minimize errors and ground its responses in verifiable information.
While the enhancements showcased in controlled demos are promising, industry observers note that real-world performance remains to be seen. If Alexa+ can deliver on its promise of seamless integration with both established apps and a wider range of online services, it could reinforce Amazon’s position in the competitive consumer AI space against rivals like Google, Apple, and OpenAI.
For now, early access to Alexa+ is anticipated in March, with users and developers keenly awaiting how these advanced features will perform in everyday scenarios.
The UN Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution renewing Haiti’s sanctions regime for another year. The measures include targeted...
The Secretary-General of TÜRKPA held a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister during the 19th Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (...
In the first nine months of this year, 10.2 billion cubic metres of gas were produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block in the Azerbaijani se...
The UN on Friday said humanitarian operations are continuing in the Gaza Strip, with aid convoys moving through multiple crossings and thousands of pe...
The Kremlin on Friday confirmed that a meeting in Hungary between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump could take place wi...
SpaceX postponed the Falcon 9 launch of Amazon’s KF-02 satellite mission scheduled for Sunday because of adverse weather conditions, the company announced.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,500-year-old city in northern Peru that likely served as a key trade hub connecting ancient coastal, Andean, and Amazonian cultures.
Prices for goods made in China and sold on Amazon.com are rising at a pace faster than overall inflation, signalling the growing impact of U.S. tariffs on consumers, a new analysis by retail analytics firm DataWeave reveals.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s multi-day wedding in Venice is making headlines—not just for its celebrity guest list and luxury, but also for the backlash it has sparked among local activists.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
Apple has pledged to increase its investment in China despite ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing, CEO Tim Cook said during a meeting with China’s industry minister.
SpaceX launched its 11th Starship from Texas on 13 October, landing in the Indian Ocean ahead of testing an upgraded version for future moon and Mars missions.
From Sunday, all non-EU citizens, including British visitors, will face new biometric checks when entering and exiting the European Union under its long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES).
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, and Omar Yaghi of the University of California.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for their groundbreaking discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in electric circuits.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment