{"id":844527,"date":"2026-08-05T15:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/844527\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:10:21","slug":"amazons-alexa-gets-smarter-alexa-launches-in-australia-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/844527\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon\u2019s Alexa gets smarter: Alexa+ launches in Australia today"},"content":{"rendered":"

After launching in Australia eight years ago, Amazon\u2019s Alexa smart speaker assistant is getting a big upgrade from\u00a0today\u00a0with the local launch of their latest Alexa+ system, bringing generative AI<\/a> conversations to your Amazon Echo smart speaker.<\/p>\n

Available\u00a0today\u00a0via early access to people who purchase a new Echo device and rolling out to compatible existing speakers over the weeks ahead, Alexa+ is a subscription service aimed at giving you more from your speaker in the way you might expect a real personal assistant to behave.<\/p>\n

\"Alexa+<\/p>\n

Alexa+ begins its rollout on Australian devices today.\u00a0Amazon<\/p>\n

Rather than being a speaker that listens out for the \u201cwake word\u201d which in this case is \u201cAlexa\u201d, and then responding to whatever single question you have, Alexa+ follows the wake word with a conversation, allowing a bit of back and forth between you and the speaker should it be required.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to 9News, Michele Butti, Amazon\u2019s VP of Alexa International, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a massive difference because now the new Alexa that is called Alexa+ is based on the new generative AI with these large language models that are much more powerful. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a longer conversation. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlexa is much smarter, can talk about almost anything, from a recommendation on how to negotiate with your boss for a raise to scientific questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key to the improvement also is Alexa+ having the ability to take actions on your behalf. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that makes Alexa very unique – Alexa+ gets things done in the real world,\u201d Butti explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not just that like other tools that are limited to being a chatbot experience, but it controls your home. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can actually book a table directly with your voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Alexa+ system brings generative AI conversations to your Amazon Echo smart speaker.\u00a0Amazon<\/p>\n

As well as new devices, Alexa+ will work on a wide number of existing devices in this country – Butti is convinced it\u2019s the vast majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now in Australia, more than 98 per cent of the customers that are using Alexa have at least one device that is compatible with Alexa+,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Essentially, it\u2019s just the original devices from eight years ago that won\u2019t use the new system.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, once the early access trials are over, Alexa+ will be available with a standalone $29.99 monthly subscription, or be included as part of Amazon\u2019e Prime Membership – a program that costs just $9.99 per month and includes free shipping with Amazon shopping, free music streaming and also Amazon Prime video streaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Confused by this, I asked Butti what was going on with this strategy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe always meant to make Prime the best subscription in the world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what Jeff (Bezos) said [is] that it has to be irresponsible for a customer not to get Prime, because every single benefit can be more valuable than the price of Prime. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can watch so much content, free content on Prime Video that is way more valuable than the price of Prime. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get so much faster free shipping that is much more valuable than the price. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the same is going to be with Alexa, with music. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo every single benefit could independently be more valuable than the price of a Prime membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexa+ begins its rollout on Australian devices\u00a0today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After launching in Australia eight years ago, Amazon\u2019s Alexa smart speaker assistant is getting a big upgrade from\u00a0today\u00a0with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,105],"class_list":["post-844527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}