Amazon today announced that Alexa+, its upgraded AI-driven assistant, is now available in beta to members of the Alexa+ Early Access program using the Amazon Music app across all subscription tiers. The assistant introduces new ways for users to discover, organize, and engage with music through natural conversation rather than traditional commands. According to Amazon, Alexa+ enables listeners to interact with music as if speaking to “a knowledgeable friend,” discussing genres, influences, and song meanings in depth.

The feature appears as a new “a” button in the lower right corner of the Amazon Music interface, allowing users to activate Alexa+ through voice queries. Alexa+ can respond to both general and highly specific prompts. Users can ask questions such as “What’s the song that plays in the opening credits of The Sopranos?” or “Which song has the lyrics, ‘Catch me or I’ll go Houdini’?”

The assistant can also generate playlists tailored to complex requests, including “Create a playlist for driving along the Pacific Coast Highway at sunset” or “Make a playlist of relaxing songs for my dog but with R&B vibes that soothe anxiety.” Beyond basic song identification, Alexa+ is capable of explaining the meaning of lyrics, exploring artist discographies, identifying sample origins, and tracing genre evolution across decades and regions.

Amazon says that listeners who engaged with Alexa+ explored three times more music and listened to nearly 70% more tracks than those using the original version of Alexa. Alexa+ was first announced earlier in 2025. It can respond to personalized requests, manage routines, summarize topics, and understand context in extended dialogue.

Once the beta period ends, Alexa+ will be available to Amazon Prime members at no additional cost, while non-Prime users will be able to subscribe for $19.99 per month. The current rollout marks one of the first major integrations of a generative AI assistant within a mainstream streaming service.

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Alexa+ is smarter, more personalized, and more proactive about making suggestions to users, according to Amazon. The experience is designed to improve as users interact more with Alexa, and Alexa has been updated to have more personality.

Users can expect a smoother and more intuitive experience when speaking with Alexa, and the personal assistant will be better able to understand what a user wants regardless of phrasing. Alexa continues to have integrations with various services like Spotify and Apple Music, along with smart home devices.

Amazon says that Alexa+ uses “devices, context, and knowledge” to create a “simple” smart home experience where users can control multiple smart devices with one request, create routines with voice commands, and adjust home parameters without explicit requests. If a user says “I’m cold” or “it’s too bright,” Alexa will know to adjust the temperature or dim the lights without being asked.

Alexa+ essentially does everything that the current version of Alexa can do, but better. As an example, Amazon says you can use Alexa+ to play music, but also have “broad-ranging conversations” about your favorite artists. Or you can play movies and TV shows, but also ask questions about characters, episodes, soundtracks, and go to specific scenes. Alexa is able to do things that other chatbots like ChatGPT can do, such as answering complex questions. Amazon has a list of 50 recommendations to try with Alexa+, and some of the options are below:

• Explore any topic, have full conversations, and get real-time news.
• Ask Alexa to remember important details like a frequent flyer number, restaurant names, recipes, and more. Alexa can remember things about users too, such as dietary restrictions and allergies to take that into account when making recommendations.
• Ask Alexa+ for details in documents, notes, photos, and more.
• Manage calendar schedules and turn emails into events.
• Get personalized recommendations for books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and more.
• Set up routines with commands like “every morning at 7 am, turn on the coffee pot, slowly turn my bedroom lights on, and play some peaceful music.”
• Build grocery lists and order groceries by voice.
• Have Alexa+ look out for deals on an upcoming purchase.
• Order takeout, book rides, and make dinner reservations.
• Get food recommendations and meal plans, plus set intuitive cooking timers such as a timer for a medium-rare steak rather than a specific time.
• Send announcements to specific Amazon devices.
• Generate images.

Amazon is allowing Amazon Prime subscribers to access Alexa+ for free, and non-subscribers can use Alexa+ for $19.99 per month. Early access will be rolling out to eligible customers in late March. Households with an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21 will be the first to get early access to Alexa+.

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Since Amazon introduced Alexa in 2014, it has become one of the most widely available voice assistants, but it has been falling behind with the proliferation of generative AI products like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Revamping Alexa into a generative AI service will mark the biggest change Amazon has made to the product since its launch. Alexa will be able to hold complex, context-aware conversations with users, and will be able to handle multi-faceted requests.

Amazon is using AI models from Anthropic’s Claude rather than relying solely on its in-house AI technology, as early versions of Amazon AI had trouble responding in a timely manner. Amazon initially planned to roll out the updated version of Alexa last year, but ended up pushing the debut back.

It is important for Amazon to get changes to Alexa right, because there are more than 100 million active Alexa users and over 500 million Alexa-enabled devices have been sold. Amazon is aiming to convert some of those Alexa users into paying customers, with plans to eventually charge a subscription fee for the new Alexa. At launch, Amazon will test the new Alexa with a small number of users and won’t charge for it.

The new version of Amazon Alexa will come just ahead of when we are expecting Apple to begin testing a new iteration of Siri that’s equipped with new Apple Intelligence capabilities. Apple says that ‌Siri‌ is going to be updated with on-screen awareness, personal context, and the ability to do more in and with apps, all of which are expected to allow ‌Siri‌ to do more for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users.

Next year, rumors suggest Apple will roll out an updated version of ‌Siri‌ trained using large language models, so ‌Siri‌ will be able to better compete with ChatGPT and chatbots.

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The decision to use Claude’s AI models comes after Amazon’s internal software reportedly struggled with performance issues during initial testing. Sources who spoke to Reuters claim that early versions using Amazon’s own AI had difficulty responding promptly, sometimes taking up to 6-7 seconds to acknowledge and reply to prompts.

This new AI-enhanced “Remarkable” Alexa is expected to offer more advanced capabilities compared to the current version. Users will reportedly be able to engage in more complex, context-aware conversations with the assistant.

Some potential features include providing shopping advice for specific scenarios like vacation clothing recommendations, aggregating news stories, executing multi-step tasks from a single prompt such as ordering food or drafting emails, and enhanced home automation with improved ability to remember and apply user preferences.

Amazon plans to offer this upgraded “Remarkable” Alexa as a paid subscription service, with pricing anticipated to be between $5 to $10 per month. In other words, it won’t be included in existing Prime memberships. The existing “Classic” Alexa service will remain available for free.

The move to partner with Anthropic for AI technology contrasts with Amazon’s typical strategy of relying on in-house developments, but similar partnerships such as Microsoft and Apple’s collaborations with OpenAI for ChatGPT integration indicate a broader shift in the tech industry.

Amazon has invested $4 billion in Anthropic, which may have influenced this decision, but the full details of the agreement between the two companies regarding the use of Claude in Alexa have not been disclosed.

Industry analysts estimate that there are approximately 100 million active Alexa users. If 10% of these users opt for the paid version, it could potentially generate at least $600 million in annual revenue for Amazon, assuming the lower end of the expected price range.

The launch of this new Alexa comes at a critical time for Amazon’s voice assistant division. Despite Alexa’s widespread adoption, with Amazon claiming 500 million Alexa-enabled devices sold, it has struggled to generate significant revenue. Amazon’s leadership has reportedly emphasized that 2024 is a crucial year for Alexa to demonstrate its ability to drive meaningful sales.

While Amazon has confirmed its use of various AI models, including its own Titan model and those from partners, it has not specifically commented on the use of Claude for the new Alexa. The official unveiling of the new AI-powered Alexa is expected to take place at Amazon’s annual devices and services event, typically held in September.

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There will be a free tier and a second, premium tier that is priced at $5 at a minimum, with Amazon considering price points ranging from $5 to $10. Amazon does not plan to include the premium Alexa tier with its $139 per year Prime subscription.

Amazon has not made significant updates to Alexa in the last decade, and it has fallen behind other AI products that have started to adopt large language models. Alexa is free and built into Amazon devices, so Amazon does not make money directly from it as of now. Some employees that spoke to Reuters said the revamp is a “desperate attempt” to revitalize Alexa, and Amazon executives have suggested it is imperative Alexa demonstrate it can generate “meaningful” sales.

The updated version of Alexa, which Amazon calls “Remarkable Alexa” internally, is expected to be able to do things like craft emails, give shopping advice, and order delivery from Uber Eats. Amazon also wants to improve the way that Alexa controls smart home products, with Alexa able to learn how to automate routines.

Amazon is aiming to have the updated version of Alexa finished by August, which would see it launch later this year. Apple is working on a similarly updated version of Siri that also incorporates large language models, though many of the new ‌Siri‌ functions won’t be coming until 2025.

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