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Alexa Plus has AI It has been in early access for over a yearbut that’s all changing this week, starting with Thursday’s preview at Amazon’s upcoming showcase Super Bowl advertisement Featuring Chris Hemsworth. Let’s look at how Phones And smart speakers They get an upgrade to the smart voice assistant.
I’ve been reviewing the beta version of Alexa Plus over the past year I found the AI upgrade to be much more conversational and more capable than the old Alexa, providing new links to third-party apps like Uber and Ticketmaster. Starting Tuesday, Amazon has completed its rollout and made Alexa Plus available to anyone who wants to try it in the US.
It’s no wonder Hemsworth is concerned about how responsive the voice assistant is. Rogue AI scenarios in Super Bowl ad Playfully Acknowledging people’s fears On the invitation Generative artificial intelligence In their private life, the Australian actor has his garage door hacked, drowns in his swimming pool and is attacked by a bear on Alexa’s command.
Amazon explains that no harm was done in the end.
“By casting Chris Hemsworth, the last man on the planet you would expect to be afraid of anything, we were able to focus the conversation and make people feel good through humor,” said Joe Shoesmith, Amazon’s global creative director.
Alexa Plus arrives with a free version and more
Alexa Plus looks significantly different, but it depends on how you use voice assistants in general.
So, what does the new Alexa Plus expansion – available now – include? The most interesting part is the multiple levels of the AI service, starting with the free version that anyone can use as long as they download or visit the Alexa app Alexa.com web portal (Which we also tried).
You won’t get any advanced capabilities of the Amazon Echo this way, but you will be able to experience Alexa’s conversational AI and see how similar it is to talking to a human. Alexa Plus makes mistakes in chat, but its ability to summarize answers, pause mid-conversation, and answer follow-up questions is welcome. As I said beforeit’s like how voice assistants were always meant to be.
“Alexa Plus is designed to make customers’ lives purposefully easier — and that starts with conversation. Because Alexa Plus lives in the middle of everyday life, it needs to be natural and trustworthy,” Panos Panai, senior vice president at Amazon Devices & Services, tells CNET. “The Super Bowl is the perfect moment to introduce this development on a large scale.”
There are two other levels of Alexa AI. The first comes when you subscribe to Amazon Prime for $15 per month. This unlocks not only Prime’s own content, but also all the capabilities of Alexa Plus across all compatible devices. This includes Echo smart speakers and Ring AI video summaries Security camerasamong other tricks. You can try telling your Echo device to “Upgrade to Alexa Plus” to get started.
The final option is to pay $20 per month to unlock all the capabilities of Alexa Plus across all devices, independent of an Amazon Prime subscription. Alexa will not be able to interact with Prime content such as videos or Amazon Musicbut can connect to everything else the AI upgrade has to offer. Since you need an Amazon account in both cases, this tier is for specific people who want to avoid Prime content.
Is the new Alexa AI worth your time?
I’ve tested Alexa Plus on and off. This is when a new AI voice assistant is due.
If you’re wondering if Alexa Plus is worth it compared to alternatives like Gemini for home or Whatever Apple is cooking with SiriOverall, I found my experience with the voice assistant to be the most positive I’ve ever had. Sometimes a little also Positive – as seen with Chat botsAlexa Plus can be quite willing to agree with you and promise to do anything, even if it can’t.
Also, if you use an Echo device, it will send your voice recordings to Amazon for automatic analysis; There’s no getting around this privacy concession if you want Alexa on a smart device.
These issues aside, Alexa Plus as part of Amazon Prime for $15 is an excellent deal, especially if you already use Prime to order. Catch the falletc. If you’re not sure how to talk to the new, lively Alexa, all you need is an Amazon account to try it out online.