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On Wednesday, Amazon unveiled Alexa+, the latest iteration of its renowned voice assistant, effectively ushering it into the realm of artificial intelligence.

This upgraded version of Alexa boasts enhanced conversational abilities, allowing it to personalize responses based on user preferences. According to Amazon, Alexa+ can now perform tasks on behalf of users, such as booking concert tickets. Priced at $19.99 per month, it’s available for free to Amazon Prime members, with early access set for next month.

The introduction of Alexa+ is Amazon’s strategic move to compete with the rising popularity of AI-driven virtual assistants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, which have surged in use since 2022.

Like its competitors, Amazon is racing to develop what industry leaders deem the next evolution of AI chatbots: intelligent AI agents. Unlike basic chatbots, these agents are designed to perform actions, such as completing purchases or managing real-world tasks, like returning an online order or scheduling repairs for home appliances.

Alexa+ plays a pivotal role in Amazon’s strategy to adapt to the current landscape of chatbot technology, thereby enhancing its long-standing voice assistant.

Amazon emphasizes the new Alexa’s capability to integrate users’ personal contexts—like their preferred apps and services—as a significant advantage over traditional chatbots such as ChatGPT. Similarly, Apple and Google are pursuing comparable enhancements for their virtual assistants.

A promotional video showcased Alexa+ managing tasks like tracking the number of books a user has read in the year, reserving a favorite dinner spot for Friday nights, or notifying them about available tickets for concerts featuring their preferred artists.

The assistant’s functionalities are driven by analyzing a user’s historical data across various applications and devices, allowing it to remember personal preferences, as stated by the company.

Alexa+ will also be adept at responding to inquiries about a user’s environment. During a demonstration with the Echo Show, Amazon’s head of devices, Panos Panay, asked Alexa if the audience “looked pumped,” and it accurately replied, “From what I can see, those 250 folks look pretty fired up.”

Panay indicated that Alexa+ is designed to grasp context and interpret natural language more effectively. Instead of simply commanding Alexa to lower the volume, users can articulate requests in a more nuanced way, like “play music but don’t wake the baby.”

He credited advancements in generative AI and large language models as key factors behind Alexa’s transformation—technologies that have fueled the success of popular AI applications like ChatGPT.

Panay remarked, “While the vision for Alexa has always been ambitious and remains incredibly enticing, we have been constrained by technology until now.”

Amazon’s strategy mirrors that of Apple and Google, as both are enhancing their respective voice assistants. Apple is upgrading Siri to utilize personal data for answering inquiries, while Google is developing its Gemini assistant to operate as a task-oriented agent. Although Amazon’s approach is not entirely unique, it represents a much-needed modernization of its decade-old assistant, keeping pace with its competitors.

Panay also noted that Alexa+ has been calibrated to recognize a user’s tone and surroundings, enabling it to adjust responses naturally.

Since its launch in 2014, Amazon’s Echo has experienced remarkable success. However, over the ensuing decade, the company has encountered challenges in monetizing its hardware division, despite its strategy of offering affordable devices that have made Alexa the leading voice assistant.

The business model for the Echo has also stalled, as Amazon anticipated users would leverage the device to increase their shopping on the platform. In reality, users primarily utilized Echo for simple tasks like setting alarms and enjoying music, leading to substantial losses for Amazon in the Echo sector, reportedly amounting to billions, as outlined by The Wall Street Journal. With the launch of Alexa+, Amazon evidently aims to turn this situation around.

The emergence of generative AI-based chatbots like ChatGPT, which gained traction in late 2022, poses a risk to the traditional voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant.

However, one of Alexa’s potential advantages lies in its seamless integration with Amazon’s ecosystem of devices and services, such as Fire TVs and Ring cameras. Users can inquire about occurrences at home while they were away or find out if someone took their dog outside. Additionally, if implemented successfully, Alexa+ could motivate more consumers to subscribe to Amazon’s lucrative $15-per-month Prime service.

Amazon first previewed this much-anticipated update at a 2023 event in New York City.

This article has been updated with additional insights and details.