Everyone Can Now Use Alexa+, but the Full Experience Might Cost You
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Amazon announced Alexa+, its revamped digital assistant with generative AI capabilities, about a year ago. Shortly after, it launched an early access program allowing interested users to try it for free. Unfortunately, that honeymoon period is over: Alexa+ is now officially launched, and you’ll now have to pay to access its most useful features.
While some features are still free, the majority of the Alexa+ experience is now locked behind a paywall. Sure, you may already be paying for that paywall, but if you don’t, it’ll cost you quite a bit to keep the features you’ve been testing for months. (Of course, the standard Alexa assistant still exists if you don’t care about the latest improvement in generative AI.)
What is Alexa+?
The new Alexa looks a lot like the old one, but now behaves a little more like other generative AI assistants, including ChatGPT. In addition to simple queries and questions, Alexa+ can handle more complex queries and understand context (meaning one complex question can be followed by another, without needing to repeat yourself). Despite all the hubbub around generative AI, contextual awareness is truly one of the big improvements users will notice with their digital assistants.
Amazon has a big vision for Alexa+. It still wants you to use it to control smart home devices, run timers, check the weather, and follow the news, but it also wants users to take advantage of “agentic” tasks, or actions that the AI can handle on your behalf. In theory, agentic AI allows you to ask the AI to order dinner for takeout, make restaurant reservations, schedule an Uber, or book a home repair. I’m still not convinced by the capabilities of AI agent assistants, and I imagine that most people will continue to use Alexa+ in the same way they used the old classic Alexa (for example by asking “Is it cold today?” or telling it to “set a timer for 10 minutes”, or ordering it to “Play ‘Manchild’ by Sabrina Carpenter on repeat”), but what do I know? Maybe Alexa+ will really change the way people interact with their Echo devices.
How much Alexa+ will cost you
If you’re interested in Amazon’s latest AI assistant, there are three different ways to try it: one free and two paid.
How to use Alexa+ for free
Alexa+ chat, the most basic, is completely free. You can try it by going to alexa.com or using the Alexa app for iOS or Android, where you can talk to Alexa in a chat window, like ChatGPT. Amazon says users can get “quick answers, plan searches, and explore new topics.”
But the thing is, you can’t use Alexa+ chat for any of the things you probably want Alexa+ to do. This is a web-based chatbot experience only, not something you can connect to your Alexa-enabled devices. If you’re interested in the full Alexa+ package, you’ll have to pay Amazon one way or another.
What do you think of it so far?
Prime members get a free membership
The good news is that you may have Already paid Amazon for the privilege, even if you didn’t realize it: Currently, Amazon offers all Prime members full access to Alexa+, including through the chatbot and through Alexa-enabled devices. Alexa+ also works with other Amazon services that come free with Prime, including Prime Video and Amazon Music. Given that more than half of the US population has a Prime account, there’s a good chance that if you’re interested, you already have access to Alexa+.
How to use Alexa+ without Prime
Maybe you’re one of the rare unicorns who doesn’t have a Prime account, but still wants to try Alexa+ on an Echo smart speaker. In this case, Amazon will give you the full experience for $19.99/month. That’s a slightly ridiculous price, considering that a full Prime membership (with all the added benefits, from Prime Video to free shipping) will cost you $14.99/month (or $139 per year). You definitely save money by subscribing to the latter, which is probably a big part of Amazon’s motivation here: Jeff Bezos will never truly rest until everyone uses Amazon to buy everything.
How to activate Alexa+
If you opt for one of the paid options, you can set up Alexa+ by simply telling your Alexa-enabled device, “Upgrade to Alexa+.” You can also use Alexa+ by signing in to your Amazon account at alexa.com. And as noted above, you can definitely choose to keep the old Alexa assistant for now, whether you have Prime or not. Although Amazon may remove the old Assistant in the future, that doesn’t force anyone to switch just yet.
