Alexa Plus is available out of the box on new Echo devices

Amazon’s AI-powered Alexa is on its way to more homes soon. The upgraded assistant will be available straight out of the box with new hardware announced today. New Echo devices will come with Alexa Plus straight out of the box; it’ll also be available to those who buy one of the new FireTV. Alexa Plus is still an early access program and only available in the US, but including it on the new hardware marks an important step forward for Amazon’s overdue assistant overhaul.

Alexa Plus hasn’t had an easy journey to get here. Amazon initially announced an LLM-embued Alexa update two years ago under former hardware exec Dave Limp. The project was delayed and eventually relaunched under a new boss, ex-Microsoft Surface head Panos Panay. From there, it rolled out in a limited release, eventually reaching a million customers over the summer.

The upgraded Alexa experience includes some “agentic” features, and if you connect your Uber, OpenTable, or Ticketmaster account, it can do things like book dinner reservations or hail a ride. You can ask it to remember bits of information so you can ask about them later, and use voice to create smart home routines. But its best feature might be that you don’t have to “speak Alexa” to it, as our senior smart home reviewer Jennifer Pattison Tuohy put it. Alexa Plus understands and responds with natural language, so you don’t need to remember the exact phrasing for a command to get it to do your bidding.

If you still don’t have access to Alexa Plus in its early access program, picking up a new Echo or FireTV might be the surest way to get in. They’re all available for pre-order today; some models will start shipping in October.