- Anyone in the US can now try Alexa+ for free
- Full capabilities require a Prime membership or subscription
- Early adopters are still reporting lots of issues
Having launched an early access program for Alexa+ last February, a year later Amazon is opening wide the next-gen AI doors for all users in the US. A limited version is free for everyone on the web, with the full feature set free to Prime users, or available for a $19.99-per-month subscription. There’s still no news about a global rollout.
The upgraded Alexa is “smarter, more conversational, more personalized, and can get a wide range of things done on your behalf” enthuses Amazon in its press release. It’s an upgrade similar to Gemini taking over from Google Assistant (which isn’t going all that smoothly, by the way).
To upgrade, if you’re a Prime subscriber all you need to do is say “Alexa, upgrade to Alexa+” within earshot of one of your devices, or log into the Alexa website and do it from there. If you don’t have Prime, you can chat with Alexa+ for free on the web, or sign up for the full package through the same website.
The full package includes features like access from any device (not just the web chat), and sharing Alexa+ with your whole household. To get that, you need to either sign up for Prime ($14.99 a month) or just pay for Alexa+ on its own ($19.99 a month).
‘Easier and more delightful’
In theory, there are lots of good reasons to make the jump to Alexa+. As Amazon points out, rather than just getting it to play your music, you can ask it questions about artists and genres. It can help with meal plans, homework, travel itineraries and more – it’s a full ChatGPT-style experience.
It can still do the basics (like control your smart home gadgets), and it can remember the context of previous conversations. There are also the beginnings of agentic capabilities here, so you can ask Alexa+ to order takeaways and book cabs using simple commands.
Amazon says Alexa+ is “making life easier and more delightful for customers”, and that people are using it twice as much as the old Alexa, on average. Tens of millions of users have already switched over, Amazon says.
For now, you can still return to the old Alexa if you want to, but clearly that’s an option that’s not going to be around forever. Alexa+ is very much the future of AI assistants as far as Amazon is concerned, and we can expect a wider global rollout soon.
‘Alexa+, bringer of sorrow’
The idea of Alexa+ sounds great, until you take a quick peek at the Alexa board on Reddit. Post titles such as “Alexa+, bringer of sorrow” don’t inspire much confidence, and users are reporting issues with slow responses, smart light connections failing, and problems doing some of the basic tasks that Alexa was fine with.
There have been regular posts about Alexa+ breaking smart home routines, spouting inaccurate “AI slop” when responding to questions, getting calendar scheduling wrong, and simply talking too much (which perhaps explains the increased engagement Amazon is talking about).
One user even reported having an issue with their Alexa device playing porn noises, while another post titled “Don’t be afraid to leave Alexa+” talks up the benefits of going back to the old AI. While bugs are to be expected in a massive switchover like this, it certainly looks as though there are plenty of them doing the rounds right now.
In the interests of balance, we were mostly impressed by Alexa+ when we tried it out, and it’s fair to say Reddit doesn’t reflect the experiences of all Alexa+ users. However, it does seem that you might be in for one or two early issues if you make the jump.
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