Amazon has finally reinvented its best product, Alexa, with the launch of Alexa Plus, a generative AI-powered voice assistant that promises to revolutionize the way we interact with smart home devices. The new voice assistant was announced by Amazon's Panos Panay, head of Devices and Services, at a recent press conference, marking a significant shift in the company's focus on software development.

For years, Amazon has spent vast amounts of money on building cheap hardware for Alexa, developing home robots and flying indoor cameras, and experimenting with various ways for people to interact with Alexa. However, the core technology itself has stagnated. With Alexa Plus, Amazon has taken a big step towards achieving its original vision of replicating Star Trek's "Computer" and moving away from what Alexa essentially is today – a very expensive-to-build timer.

Alexa Plus is a completely new voice assistant, with no vestiges of the classic Alexa. According to Amazon, it has been "one hundred percent re-architected" to provide a conversational, proactive, and reasoning experience. The demos showcased by Amazon demonstrate Alexa Plus's capabilities, including planning a date, booking a restaurant, texting the babysitter, creating a travel itinerary, and adding it to everyone's calendar, among many other features.

The new voice assistant is not just about adding new abilities; it's also better at doing everything it used to do, but without requiring precise phrasing or constant repetition of the word "Alexa." Instead of Skills, we now have Experts, which Alexa's various large language models can tap into to deliver on user requests, regardless of how they're phrased. The company claims to have tens of thousands of integrations via APIs, as well as new "agentic experiences" that let Alexa navigate and fill out web forms on behalf of users.

As part of the new software push, Amazon is also launching a revamped Alexa app and a new alexa.com website, which will host Alexa Plus on users' phones and allow them to interact with the assistant from the comfort of a keyboard. This could take the voice assistant closer to its goal of being a personal assistant rather than just a household utility.

The intense effort to launch the new Alexa is likely driven by external pressures from competitors like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Gemini creeping into Google Home, and Apple Intelligence slowly coming to Siri. For a decade, Amazon has coasted along as the "best" voice assistant largely due to its vast interoperability. However, this new, smarter Alexa is still just a promise, and its full capabilities won't be available until late March at the earliest.

Amazon's Panos Panay acknowledges that there's always a risk associated with using LLMs in smart homes, where Alexa has access to vital infrastructure like thermostats, ovens, and door locks. However, he believes that the company has taken the necessary steps to ensure the safety and accuracy of Alexa Plus. "You need a level of accuracy in smart homes that's unmatched, unprecedented in the industry. We need to lock the door when you ask," he said.

Alexa Plus pricing and availability have been announced, with the service costing $19.99 a month and included in Prime membership. It will be available via an early access program in late March, in the US only, to customers with an Echo Show 8, 10, 15, or 21. It's also accessible in the new Alexa app and at Alexa.com, with plans to expand to other Echo devices, including Echo Buds and Echo Frames, and Fire TVs and Fire tablets. Some older Echo devices will not work with Alexa Plus.

With Alexa Plus, Amazon has finally taken a significant step towards achieving its vision of creating a truly personal assistant. While there are still risks and uncertainties associated with the new technology, the potential benefits are undeniable. As the company continues to refine and expand Alexa Plus, it will be interesting to see how this new voice assistant changes the way we interact with our smart home devices.