Amazon has officially unveiled the next evolution of its voice assistant: Alexa+. Powered by generative artificial intelligence, Alexa+ is smarter, more conversational, and built to take real-world action. Best of all for local households, it will be included at no additional cost for Australian Prime members.
Since launching locally in 2018, Alexa has become an essential household companion. Today, Australians interact with Alexa over two billion times every year—checking forecasts, setting timers, managing smart home setups, and settling dinner-table debates. Alexa+ represents the biggest leap forward yet, transforming the assistant from a simple transactional “ask and do” tool into an intuitive daily sidekick.
What Makes Alexa+ Different?
Built on advanced large language models via Amazon Bedrock, Alexa+ shifts the experience from rigid commands to fluid, natural dialogue.
- Natural Conversations: You can chat to Alexa+ just like a neighbor. It handles half-thoughts, complex questions, and local phrasing effortlessly.
- True Action-Taking: Moving beyond just answering queries, Alexa+ can book tables via OpenTable, manage calendars, save family recipes, and recommend or buy gifts.
- Ambient & Proactive Intelligence: Operating quietly in the background, Alexa+ anticipates needs—adjusting the heating when it detects a room temperature drop or lowering the lights to help you wind down.
- Personalised Memory: It remembers household preferences, dietary requirements (like vegetarian housemates or picky kids), and even your favourite sports teams.
- Cross-Device Continuity: Start searching for recipes on an Echo Show in the kitchen, continue on your phone during your commute, or pick up research on your laptop via the upcoming
Alexa.com.aubrowser hub.
Built Specially for Aussies
Localisation is more than just accents. The Australian engineering, speech science, and linguistics teams behind Alexa+ fine-tuned the model to get local culture right.
For example, Alexa+ understands shorthand like “servo”, “bottlo”, and “arvo”, knows the value of a weekend Bunnings snag, and gets Australian sports codes right. Whether matching your energy after a Grand Final win or helping with local news streams (like ABC, News24, The Guardian, and AAP), Alexa+ speaks fluent Aussie.
Smart Home & Shopping Upgrades
Controlling your connected home and managing daily tasks is significantly simplified:
- Voice-Created Routines: Set complex automation rules purely by voice without opening the app—just say “It’s dark” to turn on the lights.
- Room-to-Room Audio: Tell Alexa+ to move your music to another room as you walk through the house.
- Visual Doorbell Integration: Ask if any packages arrived, and Alexa+ will review Ring camera footage to confirm deliveries.
- Smarter Shopping: Compare product specifications, summarise customer reviews, track order status, and set price-drop notifications with ease.
Privacy, Pricing, and Availability
| Detail | Information |
| Early Access Availability | Rolling out now in Australia via invite or new device purchase. |
| Prime Members Price | Free (included with Amazon Prime). |
| Non-Prime Price | AU$29.99 / month after Early Access. |
| Purpose-Built Hardware | Purpose-built for Alexa+: Echo Show 8, Echo Show 11, Echo Dot Max, and Echo Studio. Over 98% of existing devices remain compatible. |
Australians can register their interest in the Early Access program today at amazon.com.au/newalexa or opt in instantly by purchasing an eligible new Echo device.
