Well, it’s better late than never! Amazon has finally delivered something that it advertised over a year ago. Alexa+ takes Amazon’s voice assistant and gives it a generative boost, and it will aim to rival the likes of Gemini or OpenAI. We’ve been waiting for this since late 2023, and it’s finally here. Amazon just launched Alexa+, but it will remind you a little bit about Apple Intelligence because its best features won’t arrive at launch.
If you don’t know about Apple Intelligence, this is the AI platform advertised by Apple that takes the iOS experience to the next level. The issue is that the majority of the most notable features advertised aren’t even available yet. Some of them won’t even come until 2026. iOS 18.4 just launched, which brings a few features, but the bulk of the treasure is still locked in the chest.
Amazon just launched Alexa+… well, some of it
Alexa has been a helpful voice assistant for years, and it’s one of the defining features of the Amazon ecosystem of services. However, the introduction of generative AI to the public has made it seem like a relic, and the company has been scrambling to catch up.
Alexa+ is what the company hopes will bring it into 2025. Well, that’s not the case, as the company shipped an incomplete product. Amazon showed off a short but sweet trailer showcasing some of what this new Alexa can do.
We see it suggesting a vacation spot, looking through camera footage to see if someone took the dog out, giving fashion advice, checking someone’s schedule for conflicts, walking someone through fixing a pipe, and more. The company also advertised features like being able to generate bedtime stories for children back during the original 2023 event.
Those are all impressive… or they would be if you could do them. These impressive features won’t be out for several months, so customers (people who are paying $20/month, mind you) won’t be getting all of what they’re paying for.
So far, according to Engadget, it looks like you can summon an Uber, identify objects, and write emails. Not only is this list short, but it doesn’t sound like anything that a regular voice assistant couldn’t do before. So, rather than shipping Alexa 2.0, it looks like Amazon shipped Alexa 1.1.
Will this be worth the wait?
Apple heavily delayed Apple Intelligence, but this should not surprise us, as this is Apple. It’s the company that waits until its devices and features are “Apple Perfect”. It wants everything to perform flawlessly. Because of that, its massive AI overhaul will have to wait.
This is what Amazon is doing; it’s waiting until its features are up to its standards. While frustrating to people who, again, are paying $20/month, the approach heavily contrasts with Google’s Fix-it-in-post approach. So, when these features do come out, we’re sure that you’ll have a relatively smooth experience.
However, for what you’re getting, you might want to wait a bit before you start paying monthly. It’s definitely not worth the money at this point, but it could be down the line.
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