For years, saying “Alexa” to an Amazon Echo speaker summoned a helpful, if somewhat limited, digital servant. It could set timers, play music, and recite the weather forecast—tasks that felt futuristic a decade ago but now seem quaint in the age of ChatGPT. This perception that Alexa had grown “clumsy and limited” compared to modern generative AI was a problem Amazon needed to solve urgently.
In February 2025, Amazon’s answer arrived not as a minor update, but as a ground-up rebuild of its iconic assistant, now called Alexa+. This wasn't just an improvement; it was Amazon's biggest bet on becoming a force in consumer AI, aimed at catching up in a race where it had fallen behind.
The old Alexa was transactional. The new Alexa+ is contextual and agentic. Its goal is to move beyond executing single commands to understanding intent and orchestrating complex, multi-step tasks on your behalf.
Amazon’s hardware chief, Panos Panay, demonstrated this shift vividly. Instead of asking a series of separate questions to plan a night out, a user can now give a single, natural instruction like, “Find a great Italian restaurant for Saturday and book it for my family.” Alexa+ then springs into action: it searches for highly-rated options, considers your past preferences, reserves a table through OpenTable, and can even order an Uber to get you there—all within one continuous interaction. It’s a glimpse into Amazon’s ultimate vision for Alexa: not just a chatbot, but a “conductor” that connects and orchestrates the various services in your life.
Alexa+ gains two critical new capabilities: vision and memory.
- The Visual Assistant: When paired with a screen-equipped device like the Echo Show, Alexa+ can analyze images. In a striking demo, Panay asked, “Did anyone walk my dog today?” Alexa+ instantly reviewed footage from his home’s Ring security cameras, identified the relevant event, and played back the clip of his dog being walked—and even being fed by an Amazon delivery driver.
- The Personalized Companion: The assistant is designed to recognize different household members and learn their individual preferences over time, from favorite sports teams to dietary restrictions. It can summarize long emails you share with it, extract key dates to your calendar, or help a child study by generating quizzes from their learning guides.
The ambition for Alexa+ extends far beyond the smart speaker. In a significant expansion, Amazon announced in November 2025 that it is partnering with BMW to bring the new assistant deep into the car. Future BMW models with the OS 9 system will feature Alexa+ integrated into the vehicle’s core functions, allowing drivers to use natural language to control media, navigation, and climate in a more fluid, conversational way.
Furthermore, in late 2025, Amazon refreshed its entire Echo hardware lineup with new models like the Echo Studio and Echo Show 11, all powered by custom AZ3 chips designed to run Alexa+'s demanding AI models faster and more efficiently.
This technological leap comes with a bold new business strategy. After investing billions of dollars into Alexa over the years as a largely free service, Amazon is now betting users will pay for the advanced version. Alexa+ carries a monthly subscription price of $19.99, but it is included for free for all Amazon Prime members.
This move has been met with a mix of anticipation and skepticism. Some critics view it as a “desperate cash grab” for a service that was once free. However, with over 1 million users already in the invited preview program by mid-2025, there is clear early adopter interest. The value proposition is straightforward: Is an AI that can genuinely save you significant time and mental labor worth the price of a few coffees a month?
Looking ahead, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has hinted at an even more transformative revenue model. In the future, Alexa+ could introduce relevant product or service recommendations directly within its natural conversations, pioneering a shift from static display ads to dynamic, conversational commerce.
Alexa+ represents more than an upgrade; it’s a reinvention. Amazon is attempting to transform its voice assistant from a handy novelty into an indispensable, proactive layer of intelligence woven into daily life—at home, in the car, and potentially everywhere in between. For the users of the over 600 million Alexa-enabled devices in the world, the question is no longer just what Alexa can do, but what you’re willing to pay for it to start thinking for you.
