Amazon has initiated an automatic upgrade for its Prime members to Alexa Plus, the company's next-generation artificial intelligence assistant, across compatible devices such as Echo smart speakers, Fire TV, and Fire Tablets. This new AI-powered version of Alexa, officially announced in early 2025, offers advanced conversational abilities, improved context awareness, and a more personalized experience, leveraging large language models (LLMs). While this enhanced service comes at no additional cost for Amazon Prime subscribers, typically costing $19.99 per month for non-Prime users, the mandatory and unannounced nature of the upgrade has led to varied feedback from the user base. Some users have expressed dissatisfaction, citing concerns about slower response times, changes in the assistant's voice and personality, increased advertisements, and a lack of explicit consent for the upgrade. Conversely, other users appreciate the improved functionalities and conversational capabilities. Amazon has provided an opt-out mechanism, allowing users to revert to the classic Alexa by simply saying, 'Alexa, exit Alexa Plus.' Beyond smart home devices, Alexa Plus is also expanding its reach, with Amazon launching an early access web interface at Alexa.com in January 2026. Furthermore, integrations with third-party devices like Samsung smart televisions and select BMW models are planned or already rolling out, signaling Amazon's ambition for Alexa Plus to be a ubiquitous digital companion. The service is currently considered to be in an 'Early Access' or 'beta test' phase, which contributes to some of the reported inconsistencies in performance.