Anthropic's Claude large language model is powering the majority of complex tasks for Amazon's new Alexa+, sources tell CNBC.

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.

Alexa+, Amazon’s revamped version of Alexa was unveiled Wednesday, bringing the popular voice assistant into the artificial intelligence era.

But unlike before, when Alexa was offered for free on any Alexa-enabled devices, customers will have to pay Amazon a monthly fee of $19.99 for the revamped voice assistant, which it calls “Alexa+”. However, the generative-AI powered Alexa will be free for Prime members, who pay the company a monthly or annual fee for free delivery and other perks.

Amazon is finally launching the long-awaited generative AI version of Alexa — Alexa Plus — that, if all goes well, will take away much of the friction that comes with talking to a speaker to control your smart home or getting info on the fly.

Amazon has designed the new version of its popular smart-home assistant to use generative and agentic AI to do more for users through more natural interactions.

Alexa upgrade, at an event where Amazon is expected to announce generative AI capabilities for the voice assistant, allowing Alexa to understand natural language more easily and hold full ...

Amazon seems to finally be getting on the AI train, so to speak, as it launched the new Alexa Plus this week. According to the company, this newly supercharged AI powered assistant is more intuitive, understanding the user's needs more effortlessly than the previous model.