Amazon gave the Alexa Voice Assistant a major upgrade, adding generative AI to make it more conversational and personalized. The update announced on Wednesday is Alexa’s biggest change since its 2014 launch.
A new version called Alexa+ is designed to better understand user preferences and interact more naturally. At the launch event in New York, Amazon’s head of devices and services, Panos Panay can now help Alexa track user habits, control smart home devices, manage schedules, and assist with tasks like booking dinners and sending reminders.
Alexa+ is also integrated with Amazon products such as the ring doorbell, allowing users to view camera recordings via voice commands. You can also analyze the documents. For example, you could check the homeowner association agreement to help users understand the limitations such as installing solar panels.
Although availability in India has not been revealed, Alexa+ is free for Amazon Prime members in the US, but for non-prime users it costs $19.99 per month. Some users will gradually unfold over time and will be accessible in March.
Amazon has spent billions of dollars on Alexa over the years and wants to make voice assistants a core part of everyday life. However, the technology lags behind AI advances from competitors such as Apple’s Siri and Google’s assistant.
Internally, the Alexa upgrade was known as Project Banyan. This is a secret initiative focused on making interactions more fluid and conversational. The demo showed improvements, but reports suggest that Alexa+ has some twists, including occasional incorrect responses and slow processing times. During the event, Amazon executives had to repeat the questions several times before getting answers.
