After years of anticipation and numerous delays, Amazon finally unveiled Alexa+ at the end of February. This new version marks a major milestone in the history of the voice assistant, now powered by generative AI to gain intelligence. The promises are numerous and should allow Jeff Bezos's firm to right the ship by offering this new version on existing Echo devices. A new era for the famous voice assistant, but in English only for now and only in the United States. Other countries will have to be patient before discovering Alexa+.
A smarter and much more curious assistant
However, Amazon Echo users must prepare for a major change to take advantage of Amazon's new capabilities. Starting March 28, Echo devices will systematically transmit all voice requests to Amazon's cloud for processing. This decision marks a turning point in Amazon's policy.
Until now, Echo owners had the option to have their requests processed locally to keep their information off Amazon's servers. This feature will disappear, as the company announced in an email to its customers: "Dear Echo customer,We are contacting you to inform you that the Alexa feature "Do not send voice recordings," which you enabled on your compatible Echo device(s), will no longer be available starting March 28, 2025. This feature allowed compatible Echo devices to process the audio of Alexa requests locally on the device. As we continue to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this functionality."
The American e-commerce giant justifies this change by introducing new generative intelligence features in Alexa+. This particularly concerns Voice ID, an important function that allows the voice assistant to recognize the user's voice. Alexa+ can then provide personalized responses and services, as well as personal information (calendar, favorite music, reminders, etc.). Users can still opt out and keep "Do not send voice recordings," but they won't be able to take advantage of Voice ID.
Amazon Echo: The End of Home Privacy?
Amazon's argument is valid, but it raises privacy concerns. The company tries to reassure by stating that voice requests are encrypted during transmission and that its cloud is secure. Once in Amazon's cloud, however, the data will have to be processed by a firm that has regularly been implicated in several controversial cases concerning the privacy of Alexa users. In 2023, the company was criticized for having children's voice recordings despite parents' requests for deletion. It had paid $25 million and agreed to change its practices.
Last year, the firm also communicated to reassure people about how Alexa works. In a post titled The four biggest myths about Alexa, the company pointed out that Echo devices recorded "only after the device detects the activation word you have chosen (or if the action button is pressed)". It also mentioned the ability to manage voice history and emphasized security.
Amazon's latest announcement is already causing discontent, particularly on Reddit, where many Alexa users regret this shift. For its part, the company is betting big with Alexa+ to pull the voice assistant out of a financial hole that has reportedly cost it $25 billion. Amazon has publicly committed to maintaining the free version of Alexa, but Alexa+ is considered Amazon's last hope of keeping Alexa alive and making it profitable. Faced with this situation, users find themselves faced with a dilemma: continue using their Echo device while sacrificing some of their privacy, or give up a voice assistant that has become indispensable to many people's daily lives.
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