Book tickets, rides and services via Alexa+
I owned a lot of Alexa-powered devices in my former home: There were Amazon Echos in most rooms, including an older Echo Plus in the living room, a smattering of Dots, a Spot in a bedroom, and an Echo Show in the kitchen. Task: I owned a lot of Alexa-powered devices in my former home: There were Amazon Echos in most rooms, including an older Echo Plus in the living room, a smattering of Dots, a Spot in a bedroom, and an Echo Show in the kitchen. A Fire TV ran in the bedroom. And, in a drawer, a rarely used Fire HD tablet sat collecting dust. With the total loss of the home due to a March 2024 house fire, there also came a new opportunity: We could now make a fresh start to create a more modernized smart home after rebuilding our house. But whether Alexa still deserves to be the center of our connected home remains to be seen. To find out whether Alexa is still the best smart assistant for my family, I’m going to test Amazon’s AI-powered devices, experiment with AI queries, and write out my thoughts in a multi-part series. With this series, I hope to offer consumers insights as to how well Alexa works in various real-world situations, not company demos. Alexa needed to catch up Amazon’s assistant, which once gave its users Star Trek vibes as they ordered their home computer to close the blinds or turn off the lights or order milk, no longer seems as revolutionary in the ChatGPT era. Today, people can engage with AI via text and voice chat. Modern AI chatbots and AI-powered services can answer so many more questions, are imaginative, can reason, can create images and art, and generate videos, and with the agentic AI, they can even perform online tasks on your behalf. In February 2025, Amazon announced a complete makeover of its digital voice assistant with the arrival of Alexa+, powered by generative AI. That service began rolling out slowly to customers in March and is now available to “many millions” of users, Amazon says. The system is also model-agnostic, meaning Alexa+ can use whatever she needs in the moment to answer the question or complete the task. Alexa+ is using models from Anthropic and Amazon Nova, among others. The company teased that this improved Alexa could do more than set timers and alarms, control smart home devices, and answer questions. She leverages generative AI to make sense of information stored in Amazon users’ accounts, understand their schedules, and their preferences. She can remember things, process files, and summarize a Ring camera’s footage. Notably, Amazon says it’s been working with partners to allow it to take actions for people, like booking dinner reservations or Uber rides, or buying concert tickets. Integrations with Amazon’s own grocery service could also have it make shopping lists by speaking to it, and then have those products delivered. Essentially, it’s aiming to bring agentic AI into the home. But before we can get to that, let’s see how Alexa+ handles the basics. In the first part of this series, I’m going to set up Alexa+, use the app, and ask the assistant some questions that only the new Alexa+ can do. Later, I’ll test the agentic AI features and smart home integrations. Setting up Alexa+ on an Echo Spot Device: Echo SpotDefault music service: Spotify (Premium) Before moving to my new home, I put Alexa+ to the test on a brand-new Echo Spot after being accepted into the beta. Since I couldn’t yet hook up smart home devices in the Airbnb that’s served as a temporary residence for over a year, I initially tried to test the device’s AI in other ways. Mainly, I wanted to know if Alexa+ was really all that smart and useful, and if she could do all the things Amazon promised. Setting up the Spot was easier than it was with past devices, as now you only need to scan a QR code to get the process started in the Alexa app. The app connected automatically to the home’s Wi-Fi; no more weird toggling between the device’s network and your own Wi-Fi. On the next screen, I accepted the invite to upgrade to the new Alexa+ for free, knowing that it’s still possible to downgrade to the old Alexa service at any time, if things go wrong. Onboarding included a short video that explained that Alexa would learn more as I use her, and instructed me on how to talk to Alexa. I then connected my Google account, giving Alexa access to my inbox and calendar. I ended up on a blank page after doing so, oddly, but after closing the window, the screen informed me that my “Account Linked.” (Disclosure: I am running the iOS 26 developer beta on my iPhone, so maybe that’s the problem?); tools: Alexa+. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: Alexa+ is currently in beta rollout, limiting availability to 'many millions' of users. The system relies on model-agnostic AI (Anthropic, Amazon Nova) which may introduce latency or reasoning errors. Integration with third-party services requires manual permission granting, which the author found tedious. Voice history retrieval instructions provided by Alexa were incorrect, requiring manual navigation to 'Recent Chats'. Users must verify all automated actions, such as calendar entries, as the AI may miss context or details..
Tools
Published on Agent Work Atlas:
Overview
I owned a lot of Alexa-powered devices in my former home: There were Amazon Echos in most rooms, including an older Echo Plus in the living room, a smattering of Dots, a Spot in a bedroom, and an Echo Show in the kitchen.
Workflow
I owned a lot of Alexa-powered devices in my former home: There were Amazon Echos in most rooms, including an older Echo Plus in the living room, a smattering of Dots, a Spot in a bedroom, and an Echo Show in the kitchen. A Fire TV ran in the bedroom. And, in a drawer, a rarely used Fire HD tablet sat collecting dust. With the total loss of the home due to a March 2024 house fire, there also came a new opportunity: We could now make a fresh start to create a more modernized smart home after rebuilding our house. But whether Alexa still deserves to be the center of our connected home remains to be seen. To find out whether Alexa is still the best smart assistant for my family, I’m going to test Amazon’s AI-powered devices, experiment with AI queries, and write out my thoughts in a multi-part series. With this series, I hope to offer consumers insights as to how well Alexa works in various real-world situations, not company demos. Alexa needed to catch up Amazon’s assistant, which once gave its users Star Trek vibes as they ordered their home computer to close the blinds or turn off the lights or order milk, no longer seems as revolutionary in the ChatGPT era. Today, people can engage with AI via text and voice chat. Modern AI chatbots and AI-powered services can answer so many more questions, are imaginative, can reason, can create images and art, and generate videos, and with the agentic AI, they can even perform online tasks on your behalf. In February 2025, Amazon announced a complete makeover of its digital voice assistant with the arrival of Alexa+, powered by generative AI. That service began rolling out slowly to customers in March and is now available to “many millions” of users, Amazon says. The system is also model-agnostic, meaning Alexa+ can use whatever she needs in the moment to answer the question or complete the task. Alexa+ is using models from Anthropic and Amazon Nova, among others. The company teased that this improved Alexa could do more than set timers and alarms, control smart home devices, and answer questions. She leverages generative AI to make sense of information stored in Amazon users’ accounts, understand their schedules, and their preferences. She can remember things, process files, and summarize a Ring camera’s footage. Notably, Amazon says it’s been working with partners to allow it to take actions for people, like booking dinner reservations or Uber rides, or buying concert tickets. Integrations with Amazon’s own grocery service could also have it make shopping lists by speaking to it, and then have those products delivered. Essentially, it’s aiming to bring agentic AI into the home. But before we can get to that, let’s see how Alexa+ handles the basics. In the first part of this series, I’m going to set up Alexa+, use the app, and ask the assistant some questions that only the new Alexa+ can do. Later, I’ll test the agentic AI features and smart home integrations. Setting up Alexa+ on an Echo Spot Device: Echo SpotDefault music service: Spotify (Premium) Before moving to my new home, I put Alexa+ to the test on a brand-new Echo Spot after being accepted into the beta. Since I couldn’t yet hook up smart home devices in the Airbnb that’s served as a temporary residence for over a year, I initially tried to test the device’s AI in other ways. Mainly, I wanted to know if Alexa+ was really all that smart and useful, and if she could do all the things Amazon promised. Setting up the Spot was easier than it was with past devices, as now you only need to scan a QR code to get the process started in the Alexa app. The app connected automatically to the home’s Wi-Fi; no more weird toggling between the device’s network and your own Wi-Fi. On the next screen, I accepted the invite to upgrade to the new Alexa+ for free, knowing that it’s still possible to downgrade to the old Alexa service at any time, if things go wrong. Onboarding included a short video that explained that Alexa would learn more as I use her, and instructed me on how to talk to Alexa. I then connected my Google account, giving Alexa access to my inbox and calendar. I ended up on a blank page after doing so, oddly, but after closing the window, the screen informed me that my “Account Linked.” (Disclosure: I am running the iOS 26 developer beta on my iPhone, so maybe that’s the problem?)
Reported result
Setup was streamlined via QR code, but the Alexa app UI was criticized for being cluttered and hiding key settings. Alexa+ successfully summarized email content but failed to capture all important dates, selecting only the three closest to the current date. The assistant also struggled with follow-up questions on price tracking, often remaining silent or providing incomplete stock information. No quantitative success metrics were reported, and the author characterized the experience as a beta product prone to mistakes.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
Alexa+ is currently in beta rollout, limiting availability to 'many millions' of users. The system relies on model-agnostic AI (Anthropic, Amazon Nova) which may introduce latency or reasoning errors. Integration with third-party services requires manual permission granting, which the author found tedious. Voice history retrieval instructions provided by Alexa were incorrect, requiring manual navigation to 'Recent Chats'. Users must verify all automated actions, such as calendar entries, as the AI may miss context or details.
Try it
Act as a smart home tester evaluating Alexa+ capabilities. 1. Setup: Use an Echo Spot [replaceable device] and scan the QR code in the Alexa app to initiate pairing. 2. Integration: Link your Google Account [replaceable email] to grant access to Calendar and Gmail. Select preferred music service (e.g., Spotify [replaceable service]). 3. Test 1 (Email Summary): Forward a sample email [replaceable content] to alexa@amazon.com. Ask Alexa: 'Summarize the recent email from [sender]'. Verify if key dates are extracted. 4. Test 2 (Calendar): Ask Alexa to add the extracted dates to your calendar. Manually check the calendar to ensure all relevant dates were added, not just the nearest ones. 5. Test 3 (Price Tracking): Ask Alexa to track a specific Amazon product [replaceable product name]. Follow up with 'How much is it now?' and 'Is it in stock?'. Note any silence or incorrect answers. 6. Output: Document each step, Alexa's exact response, and any discrepancies between the AI's action and the source data. Do not publish personal data; use placeholders. Confirm with a human before finalizing any calendar changes or purchases.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.