Amazon’s long-awaited update to its assistant is almost here. About 18 months after the company first previewed the “next-gen Alexa” built with generative AI, it unveiled Alexa+, and early access will be available starting in March.

The biggest surprise at Amazon’s press conference last week was the lack of hardware announcements. Traditionally, Amazon announces dozens of new gadgets at its events, but this time, Amazon spent 70 minutes talking about software. Specifically, Alexa Plus, its new generative AI-powered Alexa voice assistant. And that was exactly the right move.

Giving Alexa the power of generative AI was already expected to be the star announcement from Amazon -- and it was. During the last Devices and Services event in 2023, Amazon announced a gen AI-powered 'Alexa+' or Alexa Plus and a new user interface coming to an Echo device near you, and the company is now making it more real than ever before.