Amazon has recently unveiled the relaunch of its virtual assistant, Alexa+, with ambitious aspirations to secure its position as “your best digital friend.” The announcement was made during a launch event held in New York, where the company expressed its desire for users to share “just about anything” with the new version of Alexa. This overhauled assistant aims to harness the rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) that have transformed the landscape of software capable of fostering natural-sounding dialogues.
As individuals around the globe increasingly recognize the capabilities of applications like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, which have topped download charts, Amazon hopes to capitalize on this momentum. With Alexa+ making its debut in March, it will be included at no additional cost for Prime subscribers. However, non-members will face a subscription fee of $19.99 (£16) each month, although the specific UK pricing has yet to be disclosed.
Despite the excitement surrounding this revamped assistant, industry experts caution that consumers may encounter challenges in adjusting their limited expectations of Amazon devices. Ed Freed, from the marketing agency Rapp UK, pointed out that while smart speakers have gained traction—being present in about one-quarter of UK homes—many users simply regard them as overpriced kitchen timers. Freed underscored the notion that the natural environment for a savvy personal AI assistant would likely be a mobile phone, rather than sitting idly on a kitchen countertop.
The head of devices and services at Amazon, Panos Panay, introduced features that allow Alexa+ to retain specific user information. This means if a user communicates dietary restrictions, such as being a gluten-intolerant vegan, future recipe suggestions will take that into account. Panay’s ambitious claim that there will be “no more Alexa speak” suggests that interactions with the assistant will become more conversational and fluid than before, aligning it with users’ speaking habits. This shift has been deemed “long overdue” by Dr. Richard Whittle from the University of Salford’s Business School, who noted that Amazon aims for its upgraded version to compete with rivals like Copilot, Google Assistant, and Siri—each entrenched in sophisticated large language model (LLM) technology.
Dr. Gordon Fletcher, an associate dean at the same institution, highlighted the feverish pace of technological advancement in the AI sector, noting that competitors frequently update their models, leading to a battlefield where companies scramble to keep up. He suggested that Alexa and its accompanying Echo hardware have increasingly appeared outdated, struggling to keep a competitive edge as users now crave more dynamic voice interactions.
Looking ahead, Amazon has confirmed that Alexa+ will be accessible in all countries where its predecessor is currently available. Beginning in the US in March, users in other regions will receive access later in 2025. The upgrade will be compatible with numerous devices, spanning back to the second-generation Echo Dot, which was released in 2017, and including the original Echo Show 8 launched in 2019.
The strategic shift evident in Amazon’s approach reflects a clear expectation that the Alexa+ assistant will perform significantly more than its forerunner, showing an enhanced understanding of users’ lifestyles. Mara Segal, the director of Alexa, emphasized a new capability wherein users can share a wide array of personal information, such as emails and photographs, allowing the assistant to retrieve and process requests intelligently. Demonstrative implementations included booking taxis and making restaurant reservations—actions designed to showcase its enhanced versatility.
Analyst Thomas Husson from Forrester remarked that the relaunch implicitly acknowledges a miscalculation in Amazon’s previous plans for smart speakers. With Amazon subsidizing Echo devices to gain household penetration, aiming for enhanced e-commerce sales, the approach has failed to yield the expected results, leading to a substantial investment of $25 billion (£20 billion) without realizing a transformation in smart home technology.
As Amazon endeavors to forge its path in the AI landscape, it faces a critical juncture—distinguishing between personal and household data while simultaneously overcoming formidable privacy and trust challenges. Dr. Stuart Millar, an AI engineer at Rapid7, remarked on the risks involved, asserting that while Amazon’s approach appears sound, the ultimate determinant of success will be the real-world interactions of everyday users. He alluded to previous stumbles made by tech companies that have launched ambitious AI functionalities, often retracting those features when unforeseen issues arose or when operations deviated from expectations. Thus, the stakes for Amazon and its Alexa+ relaunch are undeniably high.