• Amazon has unveiled its long-awaited next-generation digital assistant – Alexa+.
• It is powered by generative AI, and is said to be more “conversational, smarter, and personalized”.
• Alexa+ will cost $19.99 a month, and is expected to roll out in the US over the coming weeks. 

At the beginning of this month Amazon started sending out invites (still waiting on ours) for a devices focused event, teasing the unveiling of its next-generation digital assistant. Said event was last night, and now we know that the new iteration is called Alexa+ (Alexa Plus).

Leveraging generative AI capabilities, it seems like this new iteration is more agentic in nature, which means it can be instructed to perform more complex tasks than before, which was fairly limited to performing tasks like setting timers, reminders, playing music, and checking the weather.

“Alexa+ is more conversational, smarter, personalized—and she helps you get things done. She keeps you entertained, helps you learn, keeps you organized, summarizes complex topics, and can converse about virtually anything,” wrote Panos Panay, Amazon SVP of Devices & Services.

“Alexa+ can manage and protect your home, make reservations, and help you track, discover, and enjoy new artists. She can also help you search, find or buy virtually any item online, and make useful suggestions based on your interests. Alexa+ does all this and more—all you have to do is ask,” he added.

Whether this will be a more seamless and enticing experience remains to be seen, but Amazon is quite happy to charge a lot for accessing its next-generation digital assistant.

To that end, it will cost $19.99 per month per The Verge, with it being free for Amazon Prime members. For clarity, we are talking about the Prime ecommerce membership, which costs $14.99 in the US, and not the Prime Video service that is available locally.

Along with touting a more refined interactive experience, Amazon also notes that Alexa+ is more personalised, and in particular will leverage your past interactions and tasks in order to be more predictive.

“The new Alexa is highly personalized—and gives you opportunities to personalize further. She knows what you’ve bought, what you’ve listened to, the videos you’ve watched, the address you ship things to, and how you like to pay—but you can also ask her to remember things that will make the experience more useful for you,” said Panay.

“You can tell her things like family recipes, important dates, facts, dietary preferences, and more—and she can apply that knowledge to take useful action. For example, if you are planning a dinner for the family, Alexa+ can remember that you love pizza, your daughter is vegetarian, and your partner is gluten-free, to suggest a recipe or restaurant,” he continued.

In terms of accessing Alexa+, non definitive date has been mentioned, but it is slated for release in the US over the coming weeks. We will have to wait to see what other regions it will roll out in, but we already know the Amazon devices it will be heading to.

“We will prioritize Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners in the early access period. If you don’t have one of those devices, and want to be among the first to experience Alexa+, you can buy one now,” Amazon concluded.