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Amazon is expanding its AI-powered Alexa+ digital assistant with new capabilities. The company announced Thursday that it is adding four new integrations to the service that will allow Assistant to work with it He enters, Expedia, squareand howling Starting in 2026.
These add-ons allow customers to book hotels, get quotes for home services, and schedule salon appointments, among other things. With Expedia, customers can compare, book and manage hotel reservations, or tell Alexa their preferences to get personalized recommendations. (For example, “Can you find me pet-friendly hotels for this weekend in Chicago?”)
The new services join existing Alexa+ integrations with Fodor, OpenTable, Suno, Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, and Uber.
Similar to what ChatGPT is now Integrate apps into your chatbotAmazon aims to make it easier for consumers to use various online services through its digital assistant. For example, you can ask Alex to call you Uber or reserve a table for dinner using OpenTable.
You can also speak with the AI assistant in natural language, have back-and-forth conversations, and refine your order on the go.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether users will accept this idea.
However, Amazon did offer a small glimpse into how early Alexa+ users will use the integrations, noting that so far, home and personal services providers like Thumbtack and Vargaro have seen “strong” participation.
Using AI assistants as platforms for applications is a model being tested across the industry as another way to bring AI to consumers on a broader scale. But this will require users to adapt to a new way of doing things, as many are accustomed to engaging with online services through the web or mobile apps. In order to be successful in convincing consumers to change their behavior, the use of applications via AI must be seen as as easy, if not easier, than the current model.
For this to work, AI providers will need to at least match the range of online services offered by the traditional app store, which is already a more curated selection than what’s available over the web. Or providers will need to be very good at suggesting apps to use at the right time, without seeming too pushy, as users can Perceive unwelcome prompts as advertisements.