Amazon’s Next-Gen AI Assistant: Alexa+ Reaches a Major Milestone
Amazon is steadily rolling out access to its significantly upgraded digital assistant, Alexa+, powered by advanced generative AI. The service, first unveiled in February, has now surpassed a major milestone, reaching over one million users as confirmed by Amazon to TechCrunch in late June 2025.
This expanded access is happening through an invite-only early access program, inviting customers who previously signed up on a waitlist. While not yet publicly available, many users have taken to social media in recent weeks to share their experiences after receiving invites. The company is increasing the pace of this rollout and anticipates making the service “even more broadly available over the summer.”
This rapid growth is notable, especially compared to May 2025 when Amazon CEO Andy Jassy mentioned Alexa+ had reached over 100,000 users. The leap to over a million in just weeks signals an accelerated push to get the new AI capabilities into users’ hands.
Why Alexa+? A Strategic AI Evolution
Alexa+ represents a critical effort by Amazon to re-energize its voice assistant ecosystem and build a monetizable consumer generative AI experience. While the original Alexa pioneered the smart home voice assistant market with Echo devices (boasting a 600 million device ecosystem globally), it struggled to become a significant revenue driver. Furthermore, standard Alexa began to feel “clunky, constrained, and underpowered” compared to the capabilities offered by newer generative AI services like ChatGPT.
Alexa+ aims to bridge this gap, transforming the assistant from a command-following device into a more capable, conversational, and agentic AI designed to “get things done” for the user.
Key Capabilities of the AI-Powered Alexa+
Leveraging powerful large language models (LLMs) built on Amazon Bedrock, Alexa+ introduces a host of new features focused on natural interaction and task completion:
Enhanced Conversation: Users can interact with Alexa+ using more natural, colloquial language, asking questions or making requests in their own words rather than needing specific commands. The assistant is designed to understand half-formed thoughts and engage in more free-flowing dialogue.
Personalization: Alexa+ remembers user preferences, past interactions (like purchases or media), and can even incorporate explicit information users share (like family recipes or dietary needs) to provide tailored responses and actions.
Action-Oriented & Agentic Features: A core focus is enabling Alexa+ to orchestrate tasks across various services and devices. This includes complex actions like:
Booking dinner reservations via OpenTable.
Purchasing concert tickets through Ticketmaster.
Ordering food delivery via partners like Uber Eats and Grubhub.
Scheduling appointments or finding local services through platforms like Thumbtack.
Managing smart home devices with more nuanced requests (“It’s too cold in here” to adjust a thermostat).
Navigating the internet to complete multi-step tasks autonomously.
Generative AI Content & Summaries: The service can summarize long emails, create unique content like bedtime stories or quizzes from study guides, generate travel itineraries, and provide summaries of smart home activity.
Improved Smart Home Integration: Beyond basic controls, users can create complex routines using voice, control multiple devices simultaneously, search Ring camera footage, and manage media playback across different devices and rooms.
Knowledge Extension: Users can potentially share documents or emails with Alexa+ (via dedicated methods) for it to remember and act upon key information.
Availability, Pricing, and the Prime Advantage
Currently, Alexa+ is accessible only to those invited through the early access waitlist. Initial availability is focused on specific Echo Show devices (Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21) in the U.S., with plans for phased expansion to a wider range of Echo models, Fire TV users, and Fire tablet users. Amazon also intends to make Alexa+ available through a dedicated mobile app and a web browser interface.
During the early access phase, the service is free. Upon public launch, Alexa+ will be offered free of charge to all Amazon Prime members, positioning it as a significant new benefit alongside existing Prime perks. Non-Prime users will have the option to subscribe for $19.99 per month.
Early Feedback and What’s Next
Implementing the new AI capabilities on top of the existing Alexa ecosystem has presented challenges, contributing to the phased rollout and delays since its initial announcement. Amazon spokesperson Eric Sveum noted the deliberate approach to “thoroughly iron out any problems” before a wider release.
Early feedback from the million-plus users invited has been mixed. Some users praise the service, finding the conversational abilities and capacity for complex tasks easier and more advanced than competing assistants like Siri. However, others report that it still feels “rough around the edges,” with some bugs and limitations noted, including difficulty controlling certain specific smart home devices that the previous Alexa handled.
Amazon states that nearly 90% of the features they initially announced for Alexa+ have already shipped in the early access version. While many core functions like conversational chat, memory recall, and basic actions are live, some announced features (such as hands-free grocery ordering, personalized music creation, or full web access) are still planned for release in the coming weeks and months.
Despite some early hurdles, reaching over a million users marks a crucial step for Amazon’s push into consumer-facing generative AI and signals their intent to make the upgraded Alexa+ a central, indispensable part of the Amazon ecosystem, particularly for its Prime members.
