I don’t want to exaggerate things, but between us Alexa Plus may be the Alexa you’ve been waiting for. Amazon revealed its massive digital assistant overhaul, making the platform smarter, more conversation, more personal, proactive and a real thing. I may have considered all this a bit hype if I hadn’t seen so many live demos, and yes, even tried it for myself.
Alexa Plus is Amazon’s first attempt at a true generative AI system that can respond to natural language ensures, preserve context, remember facts about you and your life and quickly solve prompts ranging from building grocery lists to finding out if anyone has gone the family dog.
After Amazon CEO Andy Jassy gave us a deep model Dive and Amazon Devices Head Panos Panay and other Execs went through the details of the new Alexa Plus (along with Alexa.com and the new app), Amazon went through a number of demos that illustrated the platforms new and formidable AI -Powers. Leaders tell me that the device administers its queries locally on device and in the cloud. The decision depends on complexity and those who require AI models will largely be in the cloud.
Alexa Plus Smart Home demo was a real eye-opener from an influence point of view. Amazon Alexa VP Scott Durhan showed us on an echo show (all demos were on the 21-inch smart screen), how he could say to Alexa, “I’ve been away in business, can I see a quick overview of what happened in the house while I was gone?” Alexa Plus works with Ring (also owned by Amazon) and uses the platform’s new smart video search (a premium service) to quickly find video snapshots from all over the home that are within this time frame.
One of the characteristics of the new Alexa Plus is its ability to maintain context and answer follow -up questions. Durham asked if his dog had been given trips in that time frame, and Alexa Plus returned videos showing when the dog was taken outside. Durham in particular did not have to repeat Alexa’s name or spell every detail of what he wanted in prompt (they call this old way of engaging in the digital assistant “Alexa Speak”) to add details as the fact that he owns a dog or its name.
Durham had shared this information earlier with Alexa Plus, and it was remembered and integrated into the system.
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(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
One of my frustrations with the current Alexa platform is that even when using the app, it is still incredibly difficult to create away routines. I just want to talk to Alexa and make it happen. Durham showed me how you can now just describe what you want, “I get away for a week, you can create a routine so that the lights kind of light up and look like someone’s home.” A moment later Alexa created plus an “Away Mode Lights 19 to 17:00” routine. It was simple and effective.
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
There are also the long -standing question of naming smart gadgets in the home and Alexa does not answer correctly unless you use the exact name in your query. Alexa Plus does not seem to have a certain significant vague. You can tell you that you want it to turn off a light in the living room, and it will turn off the light in the room called “sofa light” even if you didn’t call it by name.
I only hope that Alexa Plus also works in the real world (read “My Smart Home”).
We also looked at Alexa Plus’ upcoming grocery feature that can work with Amazon Fresh (including merchants) to build meals and grocery lists based on skeletal information.
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(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
I told Alexa Plus that I would build a dinner for vegetarians who like meat -like products. Soon I had dishes using ingredients like Beyond Meat. As I prayed by side dishes that would work, it remembered the vegetarian aspect and found foods like corn on copper and vegetarian Cole Slaw.
Alexa Plus can then quickly take these recipes and spin up a shopping list that you can change by pressing the screen or asking it to change specific grocery goods. Alexa Plus’ ability to stay at the moment was remarkable.
Sucking in documents and details
Alexa Plus can also read documents you e -mail to alexa@alexa.com. Sending Alexa One of your E emails may seem weird and a bit of a privacy problem, but if you assume you trust Amazon, it’s easy enough to do.
We saw how when you send Alexa et E email describing an upcoming tennis match (you can also send PDFs, Word Docs and TXT files), Alexa Plus can identify that there is an event and automatically add it to your calendar that appears at Echo Show. If DOC has multiple events, Alexa Plus E -Mail you back and ask which one you want to add. We saw how you can ask Alexa Plus and ask, “Where is my first fight?”
If there is a small detail you need from the E -mail, you can ask about it and then ask Alexa Plus to remember it and remind you if you need some equipment for the match.
Of course, Amazon -Execs showed us how easy it is to go from talking about the fight to asking Alexa Plus to help you find a new tennis racquet. It can even look for offers on that racquet of your choice. For now, this only works with Amazon and not third -party retailers.
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
It’s entertainment
One of the most entertaining demos was using Alexa Plus to discover and find music and movies with little information.
When I saw this demo, I felt Amazon must have listened to conversations between me and my wife, where we try to describe a movie or TV show to each other: “It has that guy from Dawson’s Creek, but he’s on a boat …?”
I saw when Alexa Plus deeply handled piece prompts like “What’s the song that Phoebe thinks is about Tony Danza?” Alexa Plus knew it was “Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer” and we referred to The Friends episode, where Phoebe thinks it’s about, who is the boss? star.
We reviewed a number of filming that reminded me of Jeopardy! Questions where we couldn’t stump Alexa Plus.
(Image Credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Alexa Plus is not only smart about entertainment; It is also quite good to control how to enjoy it in ways that make customization death simple.
We started on an echo show that was “in the kitchen” and asked Alexa to play “The song at the end of The Breakfast Club” in the living room (an Echo study). Then we asked it to change music to the living room (another Echo study on the other side of the demo area). Finally, Exec Alexa Plus told him “to make some dishes, move it there,” and Alexa Plus moved the music to the Echo show in “Kitchen.”
From exactly guessing “don’t you forget me”, then moving the music around without all the specific details it usually takes, the Alexa Plus AI-driven entertainment skills look formidable.
Exciting men
It was a number of impressive demos, but I have questions about privacy and support for Screenless Echos. Amazon has already confirmed that not all Echo ever made will support Alexa Plus (they will still work with the original Alexa), but I wonder what the experience will be on smart speakers.
The ring integration is exciting, but you have to pay for that video function. Otherwise, queries of activities in the last two weeks can come up with nothing.
I’m glad Amazon includes Alexa Plus in Amazon Prime. It’s hard to imagine paying $ 19.99 a month for the privilege of using it.
I also wonder how much of Anthropics Claude is at work here. Amazon called them a partner, but are we still talking to Alexa, or is this now Claude in Alexa Plus clothes?
Still, this is the change that Alexa desperately needs, and I think it’s safe to say that Amazon has officially entered the consumer AI race.
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