Pulse News

**Amazon Unveils New Version of Alexa**

By Theo Wayt

a day ago

Source: The Information

Amazon unveiled the long-awaited new version of its Alexa voice assistant on Wednesday. The new version of Alexa, which will gradually roll out to consumers beginning in March, is more conversational than its predecessor and can accomplish more tasks, Amazon executives said.

The new version of Alexa, dubbed Alexa+, will be free for Prime members but cost $19.99 per month for non-subscribers, according to the company. It's powered by both Amazon's in-house Nova large language models as well as models from the AI firm Anthropic, which Amazon has invested in. Alexa+ will initially be added to Amazon's Echo Show devices, which have screens, but will eventually be available through almost every existing Alexa device, as well as through mobile app and browser versions, Amazon devices senior vice president Panos Panay said.

Amazon executives showed the new version of Alexa performing tasks such as ordering groceries, booking dinner reservations, and purchasing concert tickets in a more conversational tone than the current version of Alexa. The assistant can also learn and remember information from images and documents, such as by reading a school assignment and quizzing a user on the answers.