Over a million people now have access to the gen-AI powered Alexa+

Seattle, WA – Amazon’s ambitious leap into generative AI with its upgraded digital assistant, Alexa+, has reached a significant milestone: over a million users now have access to the service. This substantial growth follows a steady rollout of invites to a waitlist of eager consumers, marking a pivotal phase for Amazon’s renewed AI strategy.

First unveiled in February 2025, Alexa+ is designed to transform the traditional smart assistant experience, offering more natural and personalized interactions, deeper smart home integration, and expanded capabilities powered by advanced artificial intelligence. While not yet publicly available, Amazon has been meticulously expanding its Early Access program.

This invite-only rollout has seen a dramatic increase in user adoption. As recently as May 2025, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reported that Alexa+ had reached over 100,000 users. In the weeks since, that figure has soared tenfold, demonstrating strong demand and Amazon’s accelerated deployment.

Alexa+ is available for free during its Early Access phase. Upon its public launch, the service will remain free for Amazon Prime customers, while non-Prime users will have access at a monthly subscription of $19.99. This tiered pricing model underscores Amazon’s intent to monetize its generative AI investments, a stark contrast to its previous Alexa strategy which, despite selling over 600 million devices, struggled to generate substantial direct revenue.

The new iteration directly addresses the limitations of the original Alexa, which, in the age of advanced generative AI services like ChatGPT, began to feel constrained. Alexa+ aims to bridge this gap by enabling users to interact using natural language. Simple, conversational commands like “It’s too cold in here” can now intuitively prompt Alexa to adjust smart thermostats. The system also facilitates easier creation of smart home routines, advanced search capabilities for Ring camera footage, and the ability to seamlessly interrupt or pivot conversations.

Beyond smart home control, Alexa+ leverages generative AI to offer a suite of intelligent features. Users can have long emails summarized, create unique bedtime stories, generate quizzes from study guides, craft detailed travel itineraries, receive summaries of smart home activity, and get comprehensive answers to diverse questions, much like a sophisticated AI chatbot.

The experience is also highly personalized, with Alexa+ learning and remembering user preferences, from favorite songs to preferred recipes. Furthermore, the assistant gains powerful action capabilities, assisting with tasks such as buying concert tickets, booking dinner reservations, and sending notifications for price drops on desired items. Initial integration partners include leading services like OpenTable, Ticketmaster, Uber Eats, Tripadvisor, Grubhub, Yelp, Priceline, Viator, Thumbtack, Atom, and Fodor’s, expanding Alexa’s utility far beyond simple commands.

Currently, Alexa+ Early Access is limited to Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 devices in the U.S. Amazon has confirmed plans to expand availability to a broader range of Echo devices, Fire TV users, and Fire tablet users in the future.

Early user feedback, shared across social media platforms, presents a mixed picture. While many praise the service as being significantly more advanced than existing digital assistants like Siri, others note that it still has areas for refinement. Amazon acknowledges these observations, stating that nearly 90% of the features initially announced have already been shipped, indicating continuous development and improvement.

The rapid expansion of Alexa+ to over a million users signifies Amazon’s serious commitment to establishing a dominant position in the consumer generative AI market, transforming the smart home experience, and creating new revenue streams.