Amazon announced Wednesday that its Alexa+ AI assistant is now available for free on compatible Fire TV devices in the U.S., including for customers who do not have an Amazon Prime subscription.
In a blog post, Amazon said the change “delivers a smarter, more conversational voice experience to millions more customers” and creates “an intelligent voice experience that understands context, remembers your preferences, and delivers better, more relevant recommendations.”
Alexa+ started testing early last year and became available to everyone in the U.S. in February. It was also built into new Fire TV devices from the start. Prime members get it for free, while everyone else normally pays $19.99 a month. Now, Amazon is letting owners of eligible Fire TV devices use it without the monthly fee.
Amazon said eligible Fire devices will be upgraded automatically. The list includes Amazon Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Ember smart TVs, and other models from Hisense and Panasonic that have Alexa+ built in.
The move comes as tech companies face growing consumer rejection of AI products and services. Google added Gemini to Google TV late last year and has since added more conversational features. Roku has offered an AI voice assistant on its TVs since October.
Amazon says Alexa+ “understands” what Fire TV viewers are asking and can help them quickly find content by genre, with the ability to refine requests through follow-up questions. The company added that “customers are now picking Alexa’s top recommendation for search queries over 40% more than they were with the original Alexa.”
Alexa+ also rolled out several “personalities” in February, though early reviews found that they didn’t always work as intended.
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