Alexa+ is the smarter, more conversational AI version of Amazon Digital Assistant
After years of development, Amazon’s next-generation digital assistants are ready for public use. Panos Panay, senior vice president of equipment and services at Amazon, demonstrated Alexa+ at the company’s 2025 Devices Event.
The model that powers the Alexa+ can detect tone and emotions and respond accordingly with a brand new sound – it sounds more natural. Additionally, the assistant can only be awakened by saying “Alexa” once. It will then follow the conversation. Panay said Alexa+ is context-conscious and has the ability to “remember” the early parts of the conversation. Panay said, “Alexa no longer speaks.” “You can have almost any conversation – the intimidation factor of AI is gone.”
In a more impressive demo, Amazon showed off one, Panay asked Alexa+ to play a song without actually naming it. “What is the song that Bradley Cooper sings. Is it like a duo?” Alexa+ correctly answered “Shallow” and said he used Lady Gaga in The birth of the stars. Panay then asked Alexa to “move” the music to “right side of the room”, and the assistant correctly identified the correct speakers and played the music there. According to Panay, it will even understand requests like “play music everywhere, but don’t wake up the baby.” In this case, Alexa+ will be able to say that it shouldn’t project music to the nursery.
develop…
