Amazon (AMZN) is breathing new life into its Alexa voice assistant, outfitting the 10-year old helper with generative AI capabilities to better compete with the likes of Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Gemini and Microsoft-backed (MSFT) ChatGPT.

During an event in New York City on Wednesday, Amazon's head of devices and services Panos Panay unveiled the company's Alexa+, a version of Alexa that runs on Amazon's own large language models, as well as those from Anthropic, in which Amazon has invested billions.

Available for $19 per month, and free for Prime users, Alexa+ is the company's attempt to reinvent the assistant with agentic AI capabilities that let perform different tasks across multiple apps.

During a stage demo, Panay showed off things like how the assistant is able to remember personal preferences about people in your household such as what they like to eat, and then put them to use when you're ordering food.

Panay also demonstrated how you can control products across your home with quick, natural voice requests. In one example, Panay asked Alexa+ if anyone had walked his dog at his house over the past few days, and the AI pulled up clips of his children walking their dog taken via a Ring camera at the front door.

Amazon

Other demos showed off how you can upload documents to Alexa+ and ask specific questions about them, ask in-depth questions about your favorite sports teams, and even request and book an Uber for a friend that needs a ride home from the airport. The idea was to demonstrate that Alexa+ isn't just meant to set timers or play music.

Conversations with the assistant were largely natural sounding, and should allow users to ask questions without having to use the stilted, AI phrases you'd otherwise have to use in the past.

Amazon's Alexa was originally designed to serve as a gateway for Amazon customers to sign up for Prime subscriptions and as a gateway to purchase goods through the e-commerce giant's store in a snap. But was never able to quite pull it off.

"This strategy failed and the company invested $25 billion in its Alexa division without truly revolutionizing smart homes," Forrester VP and principal analyst Thomas Husson said in a note ahead of Amazon's event.

Amazon stock was up about 2 percent following the announcement.

Amazon is pouring billions of dollars into its generative AI effort, as it seeks to ensure its place as a leader in the space. In 2025, the company expects to spend a little more than $100 billion on the technology including via new data centers and apps.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who was also on hand for the event, provided an brief glimpse into Amazon's generative AI credentials, saying that the company has or is building 1,000 generative generative AI apps.

"I'm not sure there's a company in the world that has a larger investment top to bottom in AI," Jassy said. 

The CEO also touted Amazon's Trainium 2 AI chip, saying that it offers 30% to 40% better price performance than competing chips like Nvidia's.

Whether Alexa+ takes off depends on how well it works in the real world, and whether customers are willing to give it another shot. We'll find out soon. Alexa+ launches in the U.S. in the coming weeks.

yahoofinance

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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