Amazon wants Alexa+ to be the reason you keep Prime

Amazon is rolling out a new feature in hopes of retaining, or perhaps attracting, new Prime members.

The tech giant announced Wednesday that Alexa+, its AI-powered assistant, is now available for free to all Prime members. Last March, Amazon began offering an “early access” preview for the new voice assistant that saw an “inspiring” response, with tens of millions of customers requesting access, according to a statement.

The company has revamped its legacy Alexa product to handle more complex interactions—offering examples of how users can engage in “deep conversations” with Alexa+ that may be ongoing over the course of potentially several days, as the technology can remember context, Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vice president of Alexa and Echo, said in the statement. Homeowners are also pairing Alexa+ with their Ring cameras to identify unusual patterns around their homes, he said.

People are engaging in two to three times more conversations with Alexa+ than they were previously, Rausch told CNBC. “Every week in a customer’s journey, engagement goes up, and that is really the sign of a hit product, basically.” 

USERS AREN’T SOLD ON ALEXA+

Despite Rausch’s cheerful assessment of the product, reviews elsewhere are more tempered. 

One Redditor posted “Alexa+ is a mess” on an Alexa subreddit four months ago, lamenting several of the technology’s shortcomings, including that it “feels like a huge downgrade from ‘regular’ Alexa.” The post garnered more than 240 responses, with other Redditors sharing similar frustrations. Other Redditors share near-daily complaints about lag times or the quality of responses on that subreddit.

One task that Alexa+ may not be programmed to assist with is one that’s been on the mind of many Prime members lately. In the U.S., searches for “how to cancel Amazon Prime” have surged 110% in the past month, reaching the highest level since December 2017, according to Google Trends. 

AMAZON PRIME FREEBIES

Since launching Amazon Prime in 2005, the company has steadily added new features for members—including Alexa, which debuted with the first Echo device in 2014. While still available on such devices, Alexa is now available as an app and at Alexa.com. 

Full access to Alexa+ is available for free only to Prime members, though the company will allow non-members to test the new Alexa+ chat functionality at Alexa.com for free. Unlimited access to Alexa+ for people who don’t want to pay the $139 annual Prime membership will cost $19.99 per month.

AMAZON SELLOFF

The Alexa+ news alone wasn’t enough to lift Amazon stock as fears of an AI bubble have fueled a broader selloff for tech stocks in recent days. Shares of Amazon have tumbled nearly 4% during the last five trading sessions. 

Of course, there are other factors at play—the company announced last week that it is slashing 16,000 jobs and will announce earnings on Thursday after the market closes.

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