Amazon finally flipped the switch on Alexa+, its massive generative AI overhaul, making it available nationwide this week. For about a year, this smarter version of the assistant was locked behind “early access” invites, but now it is open to any user in the US. The big news is that Amazon decided to bundle the full, voice-powered version of Alexa+ into the standard Prime membership at no extra cost. This is clearly a play to add value to Prime, as the standalone price for the service is actually more expensive than the monthly Prime subscription itself.
If you aren’t an Amazon Prime member, the situation is a bit more complicated. You can still use the new AI, but it is limited to a “text-based” chat experience through the Alexa website or the mobile app. It works more like ChatGPT in this mode, where you type your questions and get written answers back. If you want the actual voice interaction on your Echo speakers or Fire TV without a Prime sub, you have to pay a standalone fee of nearly twenty dollars a month. It is a steep price for a voice assistant, and it shows that Amazon is really pushing people to either join the Prime ecosystem or stick with the “Classic Alexa” that doesn’t have the new AI brains.
The performance of Alexa+ is a major departure from the old “command and response” style we have used for years. It uses Amazon’s new “Nova” models and technology from Anthropic to handle actual conversations. You don’t have to keep saying the wake word for every single follow-up, and the assistant actually remembers what you were talking about five minutes ago. For example, if you ask for a recipe and then ask “can you email that to me?”, it knows exactly which recipe you mean without being reminded. It is much more natural, though some early testers have complained that the new AI is a bit wordier and more “opinionated” than the old version.
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Dealing with the “Smarter” But Slower Reality
While the AI is definitely more capable, the upgrade hasn’t been perfectly smooth for everyone. One of the biggest complaints from people who have been switched over is a noticeable delay in response times. Because the AI has to process your request through much more complex models in the cloud, basic tasks like turning off the lights or setting a simple timer can sometimes take a second or two longer than they did on the classic version. This “lag” is a side effect of the tech being more complex, and there isn’t much you can do on your end to speed it up since the heavy lifting happens on Amazon’s servers.
If the new personality or the slower speed is getting on your nerves, you should know that you aren’t completely stuck. You can actually “exit” the AI experience and go back to the original version by just saying, “Alexa, exit Alexa+.” This reverts the device to the old, faster, but less intelligent mode. It is a good move to make if you just want your smart home to work instantly and don’t care about having a deep conversation with your toaster. However, keep in mind that Amazon is pushing this as the future, so the classic version might eventually lose support for newer features or devices as the year goes on.
Another thing to watch for is the increase in “suggestions.” Because Amazon wants people to use the new features, the AI is much more likely to follow up an answer with a “By the way…” or a recommendation for a new skill. If you find this intrusive, you can go into your Alexa app settings and try to toggle off “Things to Try” or “Discovery” notifications. It won’t stop everything, but it helps quiet the assistant down. The “unfiltered” truth is that this version of Alexa is designed to get you to engage more, and hopefully buy more, so it is naturally going to be a bit pushier than the tool we have lived with for the last decade.
The rollout is live right now across the United States. If you are a Prime member, you don’t really have to do anything to get started; your devices should start updating on their own, or you can prompt it by saying “Alexa, upgrade to Alexa+.”
