Amazon doesn’t just want Alexa to know you. It wants her to remember things about you, like a close friend or family member would. That’s the guiding philosophy behind Alexa’s future, according to Amazon executives at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. Amazon hopes to recapture the excitement Alexa first sparked in 2014 as a novel, easy-to-use voice assistant for the home.
Alexa proved highly popular and helped revitalize interest in voice assistants. But the release of ChatGPT in 2022 brought artificial intelligence into the mainstream, and Amazon has spent the last couple of years revising its strategy to keep pace. After promising a more personal and conversational assistant in 2023, Amazon finally launched Alexa+ in 2025. To succeed, it will need to show that Alexa+ is not the same assistant from 12 years ago.
Panos Panay, Amazon’s chief of devices and services, explained that while many users enjoy simple tasks like turning on a coffee maker, real impact comes from the context between devices. Alexa+ is designed to leverage Amazon’s ecosystem, connecting tasks and information across multiple devices.
Amazon’s new Alexa.com website allows early access users to chat with Alexa+ online and continue conversations across devices such as Echo speakers and the Alexa app. Panay emphasized that Amazon’s focus is not on creating the most advanced AI model, but on applying AI in practical ways using contextual information from its devices and services.
Panay gave examples to illustrate how Alexa+ differs from ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. In one instance, he asked Alexa for a new harness for his dog, and by the time he finished walking his pet, the device had suggestions ready. In another, when his family could not agree on a restaurant, Alexa provided a shortlist of previously visited options, suggested similar places, and even offered to book a reservation.
While Google and OpenAI are pursuing similar capabilities with memory and task execution, Panay insists Alexa’s combination of memory and real-world functionality gives it an edge. Engagement metrics support this, with users having twice as many conversations with Alexa+ compared to the previous version. Panay said early feedback has been positive, noting that “the more she knows about me, the better.”
However, Alexa must prove useful beyond shopping and recommendations. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that, even a decade after Echo’s launch, most users primarily use it to listen to music. Amazon hopes Alexa.com will help integrate the assistant into everyday online activities, such as work and travel planning, areas that helped propel ChatGPT to popularity.
Expanding Alexa beyond the home is a major focus for 2026, according to Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo divisions. Amazon plans to add new capabilities to Echo Frames, Alexa-enabled smart glasses, and has integrated Bee, a wristband that records user interactions, provides chat summaries, reminders, and conversation insights. Bee’s capabilities are expected to complement Alexa, creating a more cohesive personal assistant experience.
Amazon has prior experience with wearable devices. The Halo wristband, launched in 2020, analyzed emotional tones in conversations but was discontinued amid privacy concerns. Panay said Alexa+ addresses privacy by giving users control over how long voice recordings and transcripts are saved. He added that users are willing to reconsider privacy concerns if the product improves their lives, saying, “When you give customers something that they just love and need and it makes their life better, the narrative changes quickly.”
