After several delays, Amazon finally announced Alexa+, its next-generation AI assistant. Alexa+ is built on Amazon Bedrock to access both Amazon’s own Nova models and Anthropic's model, depending on the task at hand.
According to Amazon, Alexa+ can engage in natural, flowing conversations, and it can understand context and meaning. Alexa+ will become more personalized as you use it, as it will remember details like dietary preferences, allergies, weekly traditions, and more.
Alexa+ can help you manage your calendar, recall details from documents, summarize emails, and more. It can also provide accurate responses based on real-time topics, thanks to partnerships with leading news organizations including Associated Press, Reuters, TIME, USA TODAY, Politico, and many others.
Alexa+ can be accessed from Amazon Echo devices, the Alexa mobile app, and the all-new web browser experience. Since Alexa+ is tied to your Amazon account, it can remember the context of your conversations, allowing you to pick up where you left off between devices.
Here are a few examples of what you can achieve through the new Alexa+ experience:
- Create new Routines by voice. Customers love setting up personalized automations with Alexa—also known as Routines—to get a helping hand throughout their day. With Alexa+, you can now set up complex Routines with a simple voice request, no app needed.
- Casually chat with Alexa+ to discover what to listen to next. With Alexa+ you cansearch for that song you heard during the credits of a TV show without knowing the artist or song title, or ask Alexa+ to help you discover new music within your favorite genre. Just ask Alexa+ to play the latest trending pop song and watch as it takes action.
- Move music from room to room. Seamlessly move your music around your home just by saying “play the music upstairs” or “play the music everywhere, but don’t wake the baby” and Alexa+ will know you mean to play on all speakers except those in the nursery.
- Jump to your favorite scene on Prime Video. Ask Alexa+ to jump to a specific scene in a movie on Prime Video without having to fast-forward just by using details like the actor or character’s name, or a quote. For example, just say “what’s that movie where Bradley Cooper sings a duet? Jump to that scene…” and it will play on your Fire TV.
- Get an overview of what’s happened around your home. With your Ring subscription, Alexa+ can provide a summary of detected camera events, and show you the relevant Ring footage across compatible Echo Show devices. So, if you had a package delivered or you had a dog walker stop by, Alexa+ can show you the highlights from the day. The experience will also integrate with Ring’s new Smart Video Search, allowing you to more easily find specific moments you care about. For example, you can ask Alexa+ specific questions like “Did someone take out the garbage bins?” or “When was the last time the dog went out for a walk?”
Amazon Alexa+ can connect to popular services like Uber and OpenTable, enabling actions on your behalf. Amazon announced a preview of the new Alexa AI Multi-Agent SDK, which will allow services to integrate their own agents alongside Alexa.
Amazon Alexa+ will cost $19.99 per month, but it will be available for free to all Amazon Prime members. The Alexa+ rollout will begin in the U.S. within the next few weeks, starting with Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices.
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