Amazon introduces GenAI-powered Alexa+ with cutting-edge agentic abilities

Alexa+ can analyse documents and emails, extracting relevant information, summarizing content, creating calendar events, and responding to queries by processing forwarded emails, enhancing users' productivity and organization

Amazon unveiled its next-generation digital assistant, Alexa+, at the Devices and Services event in New York, powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI). The new Alexa+ offers significant upgrades, including enhanced natural language processing, personalized interactions, and agentic capabilities designed to streamline users' daily tasks.

With the integration of generative AI, the Amazon Alexa+ enables more natural, free-flowing conversations, improving the assistant's ability to understand context and make interactions smoother. One key upgrade is personalization—Alexa+ learns user preferences over time, such as dietary restrictions and allergies, creating a more tailored experience.

Enhancing autonomy and functionality

Alexa+ also introduces agentic capabilities, allowing it to autonomously complete tasks on behalf of users. Amazon stated that Alexa+ can assist with event planning, online shopping, and travel bookings. The assistant also works with third-party services such as Uber for ride-hailing and OpenTable for restaurant reservations, expanding its range of capabilities.

Another standout feature of Alexa+ is its ability to analyse documents and emails. Users can upload files such as study materials or recipes, and Alexa+ will extract relevant information, summarize the content, or create calendar events based on the details. Users can also forward emails to Alexa+, which will extract key details and respond to related queries.

Other notable features include the ability to create complex routines using voice commands, transfer music playback between devices, jump to specific scenes in Prime Video, and summarize activity through Ring security cameras, making Alexa+ a more versatile assistant for home and work environments.

Model-agnostic approach for Alexa+

To support these advanced features, Amazon redesigned Alexa's architecture, adopting a "model-agnostic" approach. Rather than relying on a single large language model (LLM), Alexa+ uses multiple models, including Amazon's Nova and Anthropic's Claude, ensuring the most suitable AI model is selected for each task.

The Amazon Alexa+ will launch in the United States in the coming weeks, available on select Echo Show devices such as the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21. Priced at $19.99 per month, Amazon Prime members will receive access at no additional cost.