Amazon is launching new AI-powered Alexa+ assistant
Amazon is launching new AI-powered Alexa+ assistant
The new version of Alexa will have plenty of uses, but will make streaming much easier as well.
The Alexa digital assistant that comes standard with Amazon Fire TV voice remotes and other devices is a big help in allowing owners to stream content, navigate to new apps, and more hands-free. But the company isn’t done perfecting Alexa just yet; Amazon announced on Wednesday that it was launching the next evolution of Alexa, which it calls Alexa+, in late March for select customers.
Key Details:
- Alexa+ uses AI to make the assistant more personalized and proactive.
- Customers can ask specific questions about TV shows and movies, or even jump into a specific scene.
- Alexa+ works with tens of thousands of apps, from streamers to food delivery and more.
Alexa+ will be a big step forward from the Alexa that users currently know. Amazon pledges the upgraded assistant will be “more conversational, smarter, personalized, proactive, and has a personality — and the more you interact, the better the experience gets.”
For streaming users, Alexa+ will allow audiences to have broad-ranging conversations about their favorite shows, movies, and genres. Owners can ask about specific characters, movies, and TV episodes, or even jump to a specific scene within a title by asking.
Because Alexa+ will learn the more you use it, you will be able to ask it even more generalized questions as time goes on. Once it knows your preferences, it will be able to tailor more hyper-specific content recommendations, like romantic comedies with a nautical theme, etc.
Alexa+ isn’t just for video streaming customers, however; it will work with tens of thousands of services, including GrubHub, OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Yelp, Thumbtack, Vagaro, Fodor’s, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Whole Foods Market, Uber, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and more. The assistant will even begin to infer what you want when you say; for example, if it hears you say “It’s too cold,” it will take action to adjust the thermostat.
Alexa+ will be free to all Amazon Prime customers, or you can sign up for it without a Prime subscription at $20 per month. Early access to Alexa+ will begin rolling out to select customers in late March, with a wider release planned in the coming months.
Prime Video
Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.