Alexa+, Amazon’s new and improved voice assistant experience, has faced disastrous blowback since its March 31th rollout. Though the February demonstration raised expectations sky high, many of the capabilities first touted aren’t available yet. With innumerable machine learning and engineering issues stacked against the AI infrastructure that supports Alexa+. These limitations inhibit its capabilities and keep users from using the full suite of available functionalities.
Amazon’s Ambitious Vision for Alexa+
Amazon’s vision for Alexa+ is more ambitious. They’re intending to cover a dozen or so “agentic” AI tasks, such as ordering takeout through Grubhub and creating funny children’s stories. However, these capabilities have yet to materialize. Alexa+ as of now is unable to visually recognize people, make chore reminders, or come up with gift suggestions. Excitement around the new service has cooled. The result is users left hanging, waiting on promised features that were initially over-hyped.
Compounding these challenges is the absence of a release window for a web app announced last month that would complement Alexa+. This importing delay is just the latest in an ever expanding list of down-deployed features still awaiting deployment. As of now, Amazon has launched these initial capabilities to a small subset of users. These features range from ordering an Uber to getting personalized recommendations to improve your cooking skills. This limited rollout leaves most of the 100M cumulative Alexa voicebot users still waiting for a more robust Alexa+ experience.
Author’s Opinion
Alexa+ seems to have been rushed out without the necessary infrastructure and capabilities in place. The lack of promised features and the delayed web app release not only hinder the user experience but also reflect poorly on Amazon’s ability to deliver on the ambitious promises made prior to the rollout. This launch, if not fixed quickly, may risk tarnishing the Alexa brand’s reputation.
