Amazon's Alexa+ Aims to Revitalize Voice Assistants

AI concocted, human swizzled. 

In the latest episode of This Week in Tech, host Leo Laporte assembled a panel of tech experts to discuss Amazon's recent Echo event and the future of Alexa. The conversation featured Emily Forlini from PC Magazine, Doc Rock from YouTube and Ecamm, and Janko Roettgers of Lowpass newsletter, who collectively explored whether Amazon's AI-powered makeover can breathe new life into its voice assistant ecosystem.

Inside Amazon's Big Devices & Services Event

Emily Forlini, who attended the Amazon event in person, noted the significance of CEO Andy Jassy's presence, underscoring the importance of this launch to the company. The event marked the debut of Panos Panay, who joined Amazon coming from Microsoft, bringing his signature enthusiasm to the presentation—though as Forlini humorously observed, his style seemed rather incongruous with Amazon's typically more restrained corporate culture.

The centerpiece of the announcement was Alexa+, Amazon's AI-powered assistant that promises to be more conversational and capable of taking actions beyond simple commands. This represents Amazon's strategy to transform Alexa from a basic voice command system into a comprehensive AI assistant.

New Capabilities and Features

The panel highlighted several notable features of the new Alexa+:

• Action-oriented functionality: Alexa+ can now perform more complex tasks like sending texts, calling Ubers, or even arranging for home repairs.
• Document uploading: Users can share documents such as children's soccer schedules, allowing Alexa to send personalized reminders.
• Context awareness: The system demonstrates improved understanding of nuanced requests, such as playing music "everywhere but don't wake the baby."
• Visual capabilities: Some demonstrations included camera functionality that could recognize objects in a room.

The Prime Factor: Pricing Strategy

A key aspect of Amazon's strategy is the pricing model for Alexa+. While the service will cost $19.99 per month for non-Prime members, it will be included with Amazon Prime (currently $139 annually). As Forlini astutely calculated, this pricing structure strongly incentivizes Prime membership, as subscribing to Alexa+ alone would cost approximately $240 annually.

Janko Roettgers suggested this could be part of a longer-term strategy: "I could see them offer it through Prime for maybe even a year or two and then slowly start to separate those things... The same way they do it with Prime Video now." He noted that Amazon has become adept at using Prime to attract users before gradually introducing premium tiers and add-ons.

Privacy Concerns vs. AI Functionality

The discussion took a critical turn when addressing privacy implications. As Leo Laporte noted, Amazon didn't shy away from highlighting how much data they collect—in fact, they presented it as a benefit.

"They put the foot on the gas," Forlini remarked. "They're saying, 'Tell us everything about your kids... what's in your house... who's doing what in what room, what you're buying, where you're going, who you're talking to, who you're emailing.' That's what they want to know."

This contrasts sharply with Apple's privacy-focused approach, which the panel noted may be limiting Apple's AI capabilities. Laporte acknowledged the inherent trade-off, saying, "It's become very clear that you want to give AI more information because it'll be more useful."

Will Alexa+ Succeed Where Vanilla Echo Struggled?

A significant portion of the conversation centered on whether Alexa+ would revive interest in Echo devices, which have struggled to expand beyond basic functionalities like timers, weather reports, and package tracking.

Doc Rock observed that many "muggles" (his term for non-tech-savvy users) purchased Echo devices because of their affordability but used them for only the most basic functions. "It literally became notifications and timers," he said.

Janko Roettgers saw potential in Alexa+'s ability to reduce complexity in smart home control: "Taking away a little bit of that complexity, I think people will really appreciate."

However, Emily Forlini wasn't convinced Alexa+ would make the device "cool again," noting: "I think most people don't know or care about [AI features]... it's just not that good."

Roettgers also pointed out a key disadvantage compared to Google: while Amazon wants users to actively upload personal information, "Google's Gemini... can search all your email because it already has all your emails."

The Competitive Landscape

The panelists acknowledged that this announcement is just one part of a broader industry trend toward agentic AI assistants. Forlini summarized: "Amazon's vision actually is the same as every other tech company's vision in terms of these AI assistants. So all of them want to know as much about you as possible, all of them want their tech to be with you throughout the day as your assistant."

With Google likely to respond by integrating Gemini into Google Home, the race to create the most effective AI-powered voice assistant is heating up.

This conversation about Amazon's Alexa+ was just one segment of TWiT episode 1021, "Benito on High," recorded on March 2nd, 2025. To hear the full discussion, including the panel's thoughts on other tech news of the week such as Skype, Apple, Instagram, and Netflix, visit TWiT.tv or subscribe to This Week in Tech on your favorite podcast platform.