Alexa Plus AI launch tipped as Amazon sets February 26 event

The next-generation Amazon Alexa Plus voice assistant could finally be revealed this month.

The Echo-maker has announced a showcase for February 26 and attendees/viewers are invited to “see what’s next” from the Devices and Services team.

While we may get some new hardware from the product team – perhaps new Echo speakers? – it’s likely to be the services element that takes centre stage.

That’s perhaps evident from the curved blue logo featured in the invite, which is reminiscent of the light-up ring when Alexa is summoned.

Amazon has been promising a revamped version of Alexa for a while, that adds generative AI to the mix. While Alexa largely pioneered the ability to summon content and information from the web via voice assistants, Amazon has lost ground and has been playing catch up with the likes of Google and Open AI.

Reports suggested Amazon has struggled with reengineering the assistant to offer a more conversational style based upon large language models.

Rumours have suggested for a couple of years now, that the company might charge a subscription fee for the ‘remarkable’ Alexa update that may arrive under the Alexa

Reports had suggested Amazon had targeted June 2024 for the launch, which clearly didn’t happen, so perhaps this month we’ll finally see what Amazon has in store?

“Please join Amazon SVP Panos Panay and the Amazon Devices & Services team on Wednesday, February 26 in New York City,” the event invite reads.

A pivotal moment awaits

In terms of wider generative AI development Amazon has lost a lot of ground to the likes of ChatGPT and Google Gemini in recent years. However, Amazon still has plenty going for it.

It has devices designed specifically for Alexa in hundreds of millions of home and an entire smart home ecosystem operating on that platform.

When Amazon launches its Alexa Plus update it has a vast customer base ready to embrace the upgrade.