Alexa+

What it is

Alexa+ is Amazon's next-generation Alexa assistant, rebuilt on generative AI. Amazon introduced it on 26 February 2025.^[1][2] It costs $19.99 a month and is free for all Amazon Prime members.^[1]

Origins

Development began after Amazon directed Alexa staff, in November 2023, to train a large language model codenamed "Olympus".^[2] The original Alexa was announced together with the Echo on 6 November 2014.^[2] Alexa+ is the next-generation version of that assistant.^[1]

Key features

Amazon says Alexa+ uses large language models (LLMs), which are AI models trained on very large amounts of text, that are available on Amazon Bedrock. Wikipedia reports that it mainly uses Amazon's in-house Nova models and occasionally Anthropic's Claude. Anthropic announced on launch day that Claude was part of Alexa+.^[1][2]

Its agentic features let it act for the user. Amazon demonstrated booking reservations through OpenTable and Vagaro, ordering groceries from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods, food delivery from Grubhub and Uber Eats, and hiring a service provider through Thumbtack.^[1]

Other features include smart-home control, AI-generated podcast episodes, shopping help and four personality styles. Conversations continue across devices.^[1]

Alexa+ works on Echo devices, the Alexa mobile app, Fire TV and the Amazon Music app. From January 2026 it has also been available on the web at Alexa.com.^[1][2]

Because Alexa+ is built around language models, it can handle open-ended requests rather than only a fixed list of voice commands. Tasks such as booking a table or ordering groceries involve several steps and several services, and the assistant handles them by calling the connected services on the user's behalf.^[1]

Where it fits

Alexa+ became available to everyone in the US on 4 February 2026. By July 2026 it was available in the US and Canada, with early access in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and France.^[2][1]