Alexa has been super popular, with over 500 million users globally. Amazon has now unveiled Alexa Plus, its next generation AI assistant powered by generative AI (yes, finally), which means it can now do things like order your groceries and make restaurant reservations for you. It’s smart, capable, and way more conversational—and it’s free with Prime. Here’s what you should to know about Alexa Plus.
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1. Alexa Plus is Way More Conversational
I’ve had an Echo Dot for over four years now, going through a few different versions, and I’ve always liked Alexa best. But, one thing it wasn’t great at was talking as naturally as Google Assistant or Siri. A lot of the time, it would just read stuff straight from the internet, or simply not know the answer. That’s finally changing, though.
Alexa Plus can now understand and talk more like a real person, making conversations way more natural. It can handle more complicated questions, grasp the context, and keep a conversation going, which the old Alexa couldn’t do.
2. It Can Do Things For You
Alexa Plus uses those powerful large language models (LLMs) from Amazon Bedrock, which lets it act like your own personal helper. It can basically go online and do things for you.
So, if you need something complicated done, like getting your oven fixed, it will search the web, use Thumbtack (platform for finding local service professionals) to find someone to do it, set up the repair, and tell you when it’s all sorted.
It can also make reservations on OpenTable (platform for making online restaurant reservations) and Vagaro (platform for booking beauty and wellness appointments), order groceries from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market, get delivery from Grubhub and Uber Eats, remind you about tickets going on sale on Ticketmaster, and use Ring to let you know if someone’s at your door. You don’t have to do a thing.
Amazon has compiled a blog post detailing over 50 things to try with Alexa Plus.
3. Alexa Plus is Super Personalized Now
The new Alexa is way more personalized to you. It knows all your Amazon stuff, like what you’ve bought, listened to, watched, where you ship things, and how you pay. Amazon already knew all this, but now Alexa Plus actually uses it to help you.
Plus, you can tell it to remember stuff to make it even more useful. You can tell it things like important dates, birthdays, what you like to eat, and more. It’ll remember all that and put it to good use.
For example, if you ask for a family brunch recipe and it knows your partner’s vegetarian and gluten-free, it’ll suggest recipes that work. No more back-and-forth asking for veggie options.
4. Alexa Plus Knows A LOT (Like, A LOT!)
Before, Alexa would just say “I couldn’t find that” or “I don’t know” for anything complicated. And that was pretty much everything except the usual stuff. Half the time, it would just say “I found this on the web” and read it out. But now, with advanced LLMs, Alexa Plus knows a ton and gets the context, giving you answers right away.
You can ask it stuff like, “What’s the deepest point in the ocean?” or even something vague like, “What’s the song Bradley Cooper sings at the beginning of that country movie?“
Plus, you can teach Alexa new stuff by sharing documents, emails, photos, and messages. You can get it to remember, summarize, or even do things with them. We couldn’t try it ourselves, but Amazon says you can do this on your computer, phone, or even by email.
For example, you can send a picture of your school schedule and have Alexa put it on your calendar; upload study notes and have Alexa make a quiz; or forward work emails to Alexa and say, “Put all future meetings on my calendar,” or, “Tell me what days I have to host a meeting.”
5. It Costs About $20 a Month But Free With Prime
Alexa Plus will cost you $19.99 a month. But, good news! It’s free if you have Amazon Prime. Yep, it’s the newest perk of being a Prime member. And remember, Prime already gives you a bunch of stuff, like:
- Free and fast shipping.
- Special deals and Prime Day.
- Prime Video and Amazon Music.
- Cheaper groceries, prescriptions, gas, and more.
When Will You Get Alexa Plus?
Alexa Plus is coming to the US soon. It’ll start with an early access period in the next few weeks, so not everyone will get it right away. Amazon is releasing it in waves over a few months, giving them time to test it out, gather feedback, and address any issues.
During the early access period, Alexa Plus will initially be available to owners of Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices. If you want to try it early, head over to www.amazon.com/newalexa and put your name on the list. Other devices including Echo Dot users shall get it later.
