Amazon Alexa event live blog: all the announcements, including Alexa+
Amazon revealed its smarter, AI-enhanced Alexa
📆 Amazon’s Alexa event took place today at 10am ET / 7am PT
✍️ We live blogged every update and announcement right here
👀 Amazon showed off its new AI-enhanced Alexa, Alexa+
🔥 It’ll cost $19.99 per month but it’s free for Prime members
16:26 ET: Is it over? Yep, that brings Amazon’s event to an end. To roundup quickly, Alexa+ is the AI-enhanced assistant we’ve been waiting for. It’s free to Prime members, $19.99 for everyone else, and we saw some impressive tech demos of what it can do. No new hardware was announced, though we had a lot of fun covering the event, didn’t we? Thanks for tuning in! Until next time.
16:25 ET: Amazon Alexa+ will roll out next month. Seems to work on every Alexa device so no new hardware is needed. Take note, Apple.
16:21 ET: Bloomberg’s Apple insider Mark Gurman has shared his thoughts on Alexa+ on X. He’s not wrong, but is AI mainstream enough for Apple consumers to really care?
16:18 ET: It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. How much will the new fancy Alexa+ cost? *drumroll please* Surprisingly, it’s FREE for Amazon Prime members but $19.99 a month for everyone else.
16:16 ET: One for the cat lovers. Amazon just demoed Alexa+ making a country song about a bodega cat. According to Matt, it sounds better than 95% of the top songs out there today. Music was better in his day. 👴
16:13 ET: It’s looking like Max’s earlier prediction of no new devices being shown might be correct. There’s not long left of the event and Amazon is still talking about… you guessed it, AI.
16:11 ET: As Max points out, partnership integrations will be key for Alexa+.
16:07 ET: Amazon Alexa+ certainly has the backing of many partners, as this photo from Matt shows.
16:04 ET: Amazon seems like it could make price tracking less of a pain in the future. Alexa+ will be able to watch baseball ticket prices (and presumably other sports and products) so you can get the best deal. Imagine if this was around for the PS5 restocks?
16:01 ET: It looks like Amazon Alexa+ is powered by Amazon Nova and Anthropic AI.
15:55 ET: Right, enough of the boring grown up stuff. What cool things can Alexa+ do for the kids? Well, how about two new features: ‘Explore with Alexa’ and ‘Stories with Alexa’. Explore with Alexa lets curious kids ask Alexa questions about all sorts of things like Geography, and Alexa will respond in a conversational tone. Stories with Alexa is pretty self explanatory. Kids can ask Alexa to make up stories for them with a prompt like “Alexa, create a story about a bearded dragon that plays a saxophone.” Alexa will then ask additional questions to fill in the gaps.
15:51 ET: Remember when Panay was playing Lady Gaga? Well, the song was ‘Shallow’ from the movie ‘A Star is Born’. Panay asked the Amazon Fire TV to play that scene in the movie and it magically navigated to that exact point, picking up where the music left off. Clever.
15:48 ET: I think a common query will be “did the delivery driver actually deliver my package?” when we already know they didn’t because we were home all day.
15:44 ET: Okay, this was pretty interesting. You can ask Alexa+ “What happened around my house today?” if you have cameras set up and even see if anyone has walked the dog in the past couple of days. You’ll then be fed clips relating to your query.
15:43 ET: Panay is showing off a new smart home interface, which should make controlling your devices easier. You can also control where your music plays from easier, as Panay demos the ability to move a Lady Gaga song from one Echo speaker to another, and then to the TV.
15:35 ET: Panos Panay is chatting to Alexa+ like a real person, asking super long conversational questions that would have sent old Alexa into a meltdown. Panay spun the smart display and took a picture of the crowd, which Alexa quickly analyzed and described what was going on. “Looks like you have a room full of tech enthusiasts ready to be wowed.” Pretty cool, if not likely scripted somewhat.
15:32 ET: Check out this Alexa+ trailer from Matt showing everything the new assistant can do. She’s come a long way from simply adding nappies to your shopping list.
15:28 ET: What can you expect from Amazon’s new Alexa+? Well, it can make dinner reservations, talk to your smart home devices, and book a holiday - if you let it.
15:26 ET: Right, as predicted, Amazon has announced a new and improved version of Alexa. It’s called Alexa+ and it’s powered by new AI models.
15:21 ET: Imagine if we had WWE-style entrances for people like Panay. That would be cool, wouldn’t it? Couple of pyro cannons going off in the background. Anyway, back to the event.
15:17 ET: Okay, things are getting serious now. Amazon’s Panos Panay has taken the stage to talk about Alexa. Big cheers for the man behind Microsoft’s excellent line of Surface products.
10:15 ET: Amazon is chatting about Rufus, an AI bot that you can use to learn about products on Amazon. Nope, I’ve never heard of it either. Also, who comes up with these names?
10:11 ET: Okay, bold claim from Max here. He thinks this show will focus entirely on AI and there won’t be any new hardware announced. I hope that’s not the case, but if you aren’t already aware, artificial intelligence is a big deal these days. We should at least find out how AI will improve Alexa.
10:07 ET: Amazon clearly asked Alexa to set an alarm, as they’re right on time. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is on stage speaking to enterprise customers about, you guessed it, generative AI.
10:05 ET: We also have photographic evidence that Matt Swider is in attendance, along with Max. Looking good, guys! Amazon’s event is expected to last around 70 minutes.
10:03 ET: Want another cheeky shot of the crowd? Of course you do. No sign of Amazon’s Panos Panay just yet.
10:00 ET: In the words of Heath Ledger’s Joker: “And. Here. We. Go!”
09:56 ET: Consider this your five-minute warning! If things start on time, that is.
09:50 ET: We’re less than 10 minutes from the Amazon event beginning. People are taking their seats as we wait to see what Amazon has in store.
09:33 ET: It looks like Max is in the building for the Amazon event! Let’s do this thing, indeed.
09:01 ET: Would you pay a monthly subscription for a more advanced Alexa assistant? Amazon hopes you will, as it’s likely to keep many of Alexa’s best features behind a paywall.
08:50 ET: We’re just 1 hour away from the start of the Amazon Alexa event. Time for a quick trip to the restroom and a bite to eat. (Food will be consumed outside of the restroom, to be clear.)
07:28 ET: Good morning, tech lovers! Amazon is hosting a new Alexa event today at 10am ET / 7am PT, and we’ll be bringing you all the latest announcements right here.
Unlike most press briefings these days, Amazon’s event isn’t being streamed to the public. But luckily, we have
and in attendance to bring you all the latest updates.So what can we expect from the Amazon Alexa event? Well, we’re likely to see Amazon’s long-rumored AI-enhanced Alexa make its debut, and a new flagship Echo speaker is also likely to be revealed. We could also get some updates on Amazon’s popular Fire TV lineup, including new Fire TV sticks and soundbars.
We’ll be live blogging every update and announcement, so keep this page open so you don’t miss a thing.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
