Amazon’s next-gen Alexa+ assistant is here, with a few missing tricks

Amazon introduced a new AI-charged version of Alexa a few weeks ago, and as promised, has finally started rolling out early access to it. Alexa+, as the company likes to call it, is currently limited to a handful of devices. But it seems the preview phase will also skip on some of its most advanced features. 

According to a report from The Washington Post, which cites internal documents, the ability to identify family members via voice ID and accordingly assign them tasks set by guardians is currently missing. 

Moreover, Alexa+ is also currently not in adequate shape to order food from Grubhub based on conversations with users. A handful of other features such as using AI to write stories for kids, and pondering over gift ideas for friends and family are also absent from the early public tests. 

One of the biggest upgrades to Alexa+ is the advanced conversation capability, which allows it to hold a free-flowing conversation similar to other AI chatbots such as Gemini or ChatGPT. However, the ability to hold conversations with Alexa+ on the web is nowhere to be seen during the preview release. 

“Some of the new features Amazon previewed at the February event won’t become available for two months after Monday’s launch, and some will take even longer,” says the report. Interestingly, Amazon is also running into a technical issue that prevents the deletion of files uploaded for analysis. 

It already sounds like a privacy risk, though, especially when dealing with sensitive documents. Just like Google’s Gemini, users can also upload files and Alexa+ will summarize or provide answers based on those attachments. Amazon is reportedly hoping to patch the functional flaw in the coming weeks. 

How to get Alexa+? 

Alexa+ will be available for free to Amazon Prime customers, but non-subscribers can also opt-in by paying a fee worth $20 per month. As far as the early access goes, priority will be given to customers who own an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21 smart display. 

Aside from its usual smart home control duties, Alexa+ can also take a peek at your calendar, offer a daily briefing of schedules, handle emails, order groceries, and naturally learn from user experiences over time. Agentic capabilities built atop the Nova Act tool, such as ordering food or simply taking over the web browsing task, are also inherently part of the Alexa+ package.

If you have one of the aforementioned devices, Alexa+ support will automatically be extended to other Echo devices in your home. Down the road, it will reach a majority of Echo hardware, except the really old ones such as the first-gen Echo Dot/Plus/Show/Spot, Amazon Tap, and the Echo Show 2nd Gen.