Amazon’s New Alexa+ Knows What You Want Before You Do
Amazon has announced Alexa+, a next-generation personal assistant powered by Anthropic Claude, which will be available for free to Prime members. “Alexa+ is more conversational, smarter, personalised, and helps you get things done,” said Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices & services. Alexa+ can understand and respond naturally to users. It processes half-formed thoughts, colloquial expressions, and complex ideas. Amazon said that conversations with Alexa+ will feel more like speaking with a trusted assistant rather than a machine. Alexa+ is integrated with large language models (LLMs) on Amazon Bedrock and is designed to take action on behalf of users. A new feature called “experts” enables Alexa+ to orchestrate tasks across thousands of services and devices. With these experts, Alexa+ can control smart home devices, book reservations, manage music libraries, order groceries, and track ticket sales. Supported services include Philips Hue, OpenTable, Amazon Music, Grubhub, and Ticketmaster. Alexa+ introduces agentic capabilities, allowing it to complete tasks independently. The company said Alexa+ will be able to navigate the internet, authenticate users, and execute tasks such as scheduling a repair service without user intervention. “For example, if you need to get your oven fixed, Alexa+ will be able to find a service provider, arrange the repair, and notify you once it’s done,” Panay explained. “The agentic capabilities are particularly cool. Alexa+ can work on tasks in the background, handling complex interactions with websites and services even when you’re not actively engaging,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman. Alexa+ can remember user preferences, past purchases, and interests. Users can also manually input information such as dietary restrictions or important dates. Amazon claims this will allow Alexa+ to provide more relevant recommendations and take meaningful actions. “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,” Amazon said. Alexa+ will be accessible on existing Alexa-enabled devices, as well as through a new mobile app and browser-based experience. Users can start a conversation on one device and continue it seamlessly on another. Alexa+ also integrates with Fire TV and smart home systems. It can move music across speakers, stream content on different devices, and provide home security alerts through Ring. Amazon has infused Alexa+ with LLMs to improve knowledge retrieval. Users can upload documents, emails, or images for Alexa+ to analyse and summarise. “For example, users can send a photo of a live music schedule, and Alexa+ will add the details to their calendar,” the company said. Alexa+ will cost $19.99 per month but will be free for Amazon Prime members. It will begin rolling out in the US in the coming weeks, with early access prioritised for Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners. Amazon expects Alexa+ to enhance everyday convenience and usability for its customers. “I’m pumped about Alexa+, and I can’t wait for you to try it,” Panay said.
Alexa+ can control smart home devices, book reservations, manage music libraries, order groceries, and track ticket sales.
Amazon has announced Alexa+, a next-generation personal assistant powered by Anthropic Claude, which will be available for free to Prime members.
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Siddharth is a media graduate who loves to explore tech through journalism and putting forward ideas worth pondering about in the era of artificial intelligence.