Alexa+ (PLUS) finally arrives

After more than a year’s wait, Amazon has unveiled Alexa Plus (Alexa+), an advanced version of its familiar voice assistant. The AI assistant has been upgraded to offer users a more natural and intuitive interaction experience.

Building upon its older model, Alexa+ introduces enhanced conversational abilities with memory and emotional capabilities, similar to what users have become accustomed to with chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini.

Additionally, the AI-assistant offers more thorough personalized assistance, and a suite of new features aimed at integrating into users’ daily lives.

What is Alexa+?
Amazon’s latest AI-powered assistant, Alexa+, is built on the Bedrock platform and harnesses multiple large language models (LLMs), including Amazon’s own Nova and models from partners like Anthropic.

This advanced framework enhances Alexa+’s ability to comprehend natural language, remember user preferences, and respond to emotion and converse with greater accuracy.

Because of its infrastructure, Alexa+ has the capability to integrate with a wide variety of smart home devices and popular apps such as Spotify, OpenTable, and Ticketmaster.

Users can expect richer, more dynamic interactions, as Alexa+ is designed to understand context, detect emotional cues, and remember individual preferences to deliver tailored responses.

Alexa+ has the ability to do more than most voice-based assistants. It can process image inputs, generate inline SVG images, and integrate with tools like DALL·E for AI-powered image creation.

Additionally, its built-in web search functionality ensures that users have access to the most up-to-date information available. These enhancements make Alexa+ an invaluable tool for a range of purposes, from creative endeavors to in-depth research.

Alexa+ is set to roll out over the next few weeks, starting with Echo Show models 8, 10, 15, and the new Echo Show 21. Amazon plans to expand compatibility to other Alexa-enabled devices and introduce a dedicated Alexa+ mobile app in the coming months.

The service is priced at $19.99 per month for non-Prime members. However, Amazon Prime subscribers will have complimentary access to Alexa+, adding significant value to the existing Prime membership benefits.

Since an Amazon Prime subscription currently costs $14.99 per month (or $139 annually), subscribing to Prime may be more economical for users interested in Alexa+

Also in the works is Alexa+ for Kids featuring “Stories with Alexa”
Ask Alexa to create a story and then tell it what kind of story you’d like, what sort of creatures or people should be in the story, and so forth — it’s sort of like mad libs. The stories will have narrators, sound effects, and visual elements, too.

I’m curious to see how creative Alexa Plus will be with its stories, and how interactive it will be for children.

This feature will also require a paid Amazon Kids+ subscription, which is $5.99 per month for Amazon Prime members and $7.99 per month for non-Prime members.

Thanks to Tom’s Guide for the following review
https://www.tomsguide.com/home/smart-home/alexa-plus-5-new-features-i-cant-wait-to-try