Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa+ launches with some missing features
Amazon’s new AI-enabled assistant Alexa+ is launching Monday but not all of the features the company showcased at a splashy event last month are ready, and not every Alexa owner will get access to them right away.
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, according to internal company documents seen by the Washington Post. At the event held in New York, Amazon head of devices Panos Panay said Alexa+ would “start to roll out” in March “and in waves over the subsequent months.”
The delayed features that documents say don’t yet meet Amazon’s standards for public release include the ability to order takeout on Grubhub based on a conversation with Alexa+ about what you’re craving, or for Alexa+ to visually identify family members and remind them to do specific chores like walking the dog.
Other Alexa+ features – like brainstorming a gift idea or generating a story to entertain your kids – also won’t be released until later, the documents said.
Starting Monday, Alexa+ will be able to order an Uber or give advice on what to cook, but only for certain Alexa device owners. Customers who own newer models of the Echo Show should be able to access Alexa+, according to the documents, but owners of other devices, like the Fire TV and Echo Spot alarm clock, will have to wait.
Amazon has advertised that Alexa+ will be available for chatting on the web at Alexa.com, but that feature, known internally as “Metis,” will not launch Monday.
The company is also planning to release at least one feature on Monday that customers might have problems with. One of Alexa+’s new abilities, according to the documents and Amazon demos, is the ability to read and summarize uploaded documents like instruction manuals, legal contracts or “multiple emails from the kids’ school.” That feature will be available on Monday, but with a catch: if customers try to delete any of the files they upload to Alexa+, they’ll get an error message that says “deletion of attachments is not yet supported.”
According to internal emails obtained by the Post, if Alexa+ users ask Amazon for help removing the documents, staff can help them delete the file, but must inform them that the process won’t erase all of the associated data. Staff are advised not to tell users “this will permanently delete the file” or that “no one in your home will be able to find the information from the file.”
Amazon predicts it will fix the issue within a few weeks.
The company declined to comment on this story. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Post.
The delayed features underscore the challenges tech companies have had in revamping legacy virtual assistants for the generative AI age in which they must compete with popular AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Deepseek, Gemini and Copilot. Alexa has millions of users, and Amazon, which first previewed the enhanced AI Alexa in September 2023, isn’t alone in being cautious about its launch. Apple also postponed the release of the AI update to its Siri assistant, a delay executives said was “embarrassing,” according to Bloomberg.
But now – a year and a half since the first time Amazon promised an AI-enhanced Alexa – customers are finally getting their hands on the product, which Amazon has said will cost $19.99 a month and is free to Prime subscribers, who pay $14.99 a month.
Amazon hired Panay from Microsoft to oversee devices in late 2023 after the division’s former head Dave Limp departed to run Blue Origin, Bezos’s rocket company. At the Alexa+ launch event in February, Panay compared Alexa+ to a musical performance. “The new Alexa knows almost every instrument in your life: your schedule, your smart home, your preferences, the devices you’re using, the people you’re connected to, the entertainment you love and use, many of the apps you use, a lot of the services you need, and brings them together into what is an incredible symphony,” he said.