By TechCrunch | Created at 2025-02-26 18:07:40 | Updated at 2025-03-04 14:01:59
5 days ago
Amazon’s new and improved Alexa experience, Alexa+, starts at $19.99, or free for Amazon Prime subscribers. It’ll roll out in early access beginning next month in the U.S., and then will come to a wider group of users in waves over the subsequent months, Amazon said.
Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices will be the first to get Alexa+. It’s unclear which other devices, like Amazon’s speaker-only Echo Dot and Echo Pop, will gain support. Amazon didn’t specify.
As part of the launch of Alexa+, Amazon is debuting Alexa.com, a new web experience that’s designed for “long-form” work. It’s also introducing a refreshed Alexa mobile app with a new interface and functionality.
“Today with generative AI and a completely re-architected Alexa, we’re moving the world from chatbots to something entirely new,” Amazon’s devices and services chief Panos Panay said onstage at an event in NYC on Wednesday.
At $19.99, Alexa+ is competitive with other generative AI-powered chatbots on the market in terms of pricing. Both OpenAI’s entry-level paid ChatGPT plan and the premium version of Google’s Gemini assistant, Gemini Advanced, also cost $19.99.
The price is higher than was rumored, however. Reports suggested that Amazon would charge between $5 to $10 for the upgraded Alexa, possibly with a generous free trial to start.
Kyle Wiggers is a senior reporter at TechCrunch with a special interest in artificial intelligence. His writing has appeared in VentureBeat and Digital Trends, as well as a range of gadget blogs including Android Police, Android Authority, Droid-Life, and XDA-Developers. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, a piano educator, and dabbles in piano himself. occasionally — if mostly unsuccessfully.
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