Amazon has launched Alexa+ in India, bringing its generative AI-powered personal assistant to customers in the country. Amazon said customers in India have interacted with Alexa more than nine billion times in the last 12 months, with millions of interactions every week.
Alexa+ conversations and everyday tasks
Alexa+ understands half-thoughts, colloquialisms, complex ideas and user intent. Users can say “Alexa” once and continue with follow-up questions or change the subject without repeating the wake word.
It supports English, Hindi and Hinglish, including switching languages within a sentence. More Indian languages are coming soon.
Alexa+ can remember information and preferences shared by users, while voice and visual ID can recognise household members and tailor responses and actions. It can remember anniversaries, favourite restaurants, recommended books, dietary preferences, routines, music and book preferences.
For everyday tasks, Alexa+ can:
- Choose music based on mood and recommend films, books, podcasts and other entertainment
- Recommend gifts and help order them
- Manage calendars, add events and set personalised reminders
- Send emails by voice and adjust their tone
- Send announcements to a specific Echo device
- Answer questions about history, cricket statistics, pop culture and films
Users can upload school schedules, appliance manuals, handwritten recipe images, study materials and other documents through the Alexa app or by emailing them to alexa@alexa.com. They can then ask questions about the uploaded information, such as exam dates, swimming class schedules or what to do if a washing machine light is blinking red.
Smart home and entertainment
Alexa+ can understand natural smart-home requests without requiring exact device names and can infer the room, device and action. For example, “It’s dark” can turn on the lights in the user’s room, while “Room में बहुत गर्मी है” can adjust a compatible smart AC. Users can also say “Make it cosy” to dim the lights and set the mood, or ask Alexa+ to match the living room lights to the currently playing song.
Voice-created routines can combine lights, music, smart appliances, curtains and Fire TV. A “movie time” routine can change the lights to white, reduce brightness by half, close the curtains and start content on Fire TV.
Supported smart-home brands include Atomberg, Qubo, Dreame and Wipro. Alexa+ can also move music between rooms based on spatial references and device locations.
For music and entertainment, Alexa+ can discover songs using descriptions, moods, lyrics or conversational requests. It can build Amazon Music queues, find podcasts by episode or guest, recommend films and books, identify content from descriptions and answer questions such as whether a movie won awards.
Music services include Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music and JioSaavn, while video services include Prime Video and Netflix. On Fire TV, Alexa+ can group recommendations into categories such as War Epics, High-Octane Car Chases and Thrilling Spy Dramas. Subscription fees may apply for some services.
Recipes and shopping
Sanjeev Kapoor Recipes can provide meal ideas based on available ingredients, dietary restrictions, preferences and substitutions. Alexa+ can provide step-by-step instructions and allow users to adjust recipes as they go.
For Amazon shopping, Alexa+ can:
- Find products and refine searches conversationally
- Answer questions about battery life, waterproofing and whether products are made in India
- Compare product features and summarise verified customer reviews
- Build shopping lists and add ingredients from recipes
- Suggest complementary products and products based on interests
- Track Amazon deliveries and wishlist price drops
- Suggest a preferred brand for repeat purchases and ask for confirmation
- Suggest alternatives when an item is out of stock
Users can search for products such as an air fryer under 10,000 or request items such as dry fruits for Diwali. Alexa+ can also complete a purchase when a tracked item’s price drops.
Cross-device use and India-specific features
Alexa+ works across Echo devices, Fire TV and the Alexa app, with conversations retaining their context across supported devices. Users can start researching dinner recipes on an Echo Show, continue through the Alexa app while out and later resume on Fire TV. Browser access at alexa.com is coming soon.
Alexa+ uses time of day, location within the home and established habits for contextual assistance, which Amazon refers to as ambient AI. It can remind users to turn off lights before bed, flag schedule clashes and respond to routines such as dimming lights and playing a favourite playlist when a user returns home.
Amazon said Alexa+ was developed in India for India, with scientists, linguists and engineers working across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai. Its speech recognition is tuned for the acoustics of Indian homes, while its language models handle code-mixed Hinglish and culturally nuanced requests.
Examples include:
- “dhai baje” — 2:30 AM/PM
- “ek paav” — 250 grams
- Family terms such as bhanja, bhateeji, jethani and devar
- Expressions such as “theek hai” and “arrey”
- References to Bollywood, cricket, festivals and Indian cultural preferences
Upcoming services
Amazon plans to add more services to Alexa+:
- Eazy Diner: Restaurant reservations
- Swiggy: Food delivery and dining reservations
- District by Zomato: Event and dining reservations
- MakeMyTrip: Travel bookings
- Home Triangle: Home services
- TripAdvisor: Travel planning
Amazon Now is also coming to Alexa+. Users will be able to search for groceries and daily essentials, specify their choice, add items to the cart and place orders through natural conversation, with Amazon Now handling fulfilment and delivery within minutes.
Privacy
The Alexa Privacy dashboard lets users review and manage Alexa+ interactions. It allows users to:
- Listen to exactly what Alexa heard
- Review shared attachments
- Change how long voice recordings are stored
- Manage additional Alexa+ privacy controls
These controls are available through the Alexa app and online.
Pricing and availability
Alexa+ is free for all customers during Early Access, starting today. Customers can check eligibility at amazon.in/alexaplus.
- Early Access: Free for all customers
- Immediate access: Available with the purchase of a new eligible Echo or Fire TV device
- After Early Access: Free for Prime plan members
- Prime Lite, Prime Shopping Edition and non-Prime customers: Alexa+ access will not auto-renew
- Standalone subscription: Rs. 2,000 per month for customers without access through a Prime plan
- Alexa+ devices: Echo Show 8, Echo Show 11, Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio are purpose-built for Alexa+, with more processing power, memory, edge-based computing and next-generation sensors
- Compatibility: Not all Alexa+ features are available on all devices, and Alexa+ is not available on certain older Echo generations