After a long wait, Amazon has announced an overhaul of its Alexa digital assistant and there will be a monthly subscription fee involved. Amazon calls the service Alexa+ and it’s powered by generative artificial intelligence, a buzzword for the past couple of years.

The announcement — made at an event in New York City by Amazon’s devices and services chief Panos Panay — involves a “complete re-architecture” of the AI assistant. “While the vision of Alexa has been ambitious and remains incredibly compelling until right this moment — right this moment — we have been limited by the technology. An AI chatbot on its own doesn’t get us to our vision of Alexa,” Panay said.

In a preview video, Amazon showed Alexa+ engaging in tasks such as telling a user how many books they’ve read this year and informing them when concert tickets for their favourite artiste are available.

“The new Alexa knows almost [everything] in your life — your schedule, your smart home, your preferences, the devices you’re using, the people you’re connected [to and] the entertainment you [enjoy],” Panay said.

Alexa+ will work on “almost every” Alexa device the company has put out, he added.

The approach is similar to that of Apple and Google when it comes to their respective virtual assistants. For example, Apple is giving Siri more power to answer questions based on personal data while keeping the data safe on the device. Google wants Gemini to act as an agent that can handle certain tasks on your behalf. In this context, Alexa+’s approach isn’t new but it certainly gives the digital assistant a much-needed boost.

Panay said during the keynote that Alexa+ has been trained to understand a user’s tone and environment to adapt its response accordingly.

Amazon won hearts when Echo devices made their debut in 2014, but, in the decade that followed, Alexa in our living rooms didn’t do much beyond entertaining children and controlling a few smart home gadgets. But inexpensive hardware made Alexa a household name.

A new visual component has been added to Alexa. On Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays, Alexa+ powers photo galleries and other personalised content feeds. A new “For You” panel displays relevant updates based on a user’s interests, besides widgets like smart home controls.

Needless to say, Alexa+ integrates better than before with Amazon’s smart home ecosystem. Users can utter a command to have Alexa play music from Amazon Music on a supported smart device connected to the same Wi-Fi network, or have a Fire TV device skip to a particular scene. It can also summarise footage from Ring security cameras, describing what’s going on in a scene.

The new Alexa is being marketed as a productivity tool. Users will be able to upload files and documents, which Alexa can go through for future reference. For example, you can say: “I forwarded a work schedule, are there any interesting events I need to be aware of?” Alexa will highlight key items in the document.

“Up until a couple of years ago, it was pretty difficult to invent with AI, and that changed with the arrival of foundational models and generative AI. This made the technology much more accessible, so people can see the power and magic of what generative AI can do,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said.

Alexa+ comes with “agentic capabilities”, which will enable Alexa to navigate the Internet in a self-directed way to complete tasks on your behalf, behind the scenes. Let’s say you need to get your oven fixed—“Alexa+ will be able to navigate the web, use Thumbtack to discover the relevant service provider, authenticate, arrange the repair, and come back to tell you it’s done”— there’s no need to supervise or intervene.

Alexa+ is $19.99 per month on its own or free for Amazon Prime members. It will be rolled out in the US in the next few weeks during an early access period. The company will prioritise Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 device owners in the early access period.