Amazon is continuing to expand the availability of its next-gen Alexa+ assistant, which is launching in early access in Italy today. Just like in the UK, where it made its debut nearly a month ago, Alexa+ has been trained by Italian scientists, engineers, and language specialists to understand local culture, expressions, and Amazon said it gave its assistant an “authentically Italian personality.”
“The result is an assistant that knows local expressions, football teams, beloved music, and traditional dishes. For instance, it knows the Sanremo festival as if it has always followed it and can use familiar Italian idioms,” Amazon explained today.
Alexa+ is available out of the box on Amazon’s latest Echo devices, and that includes the Echo Show 11, Echo Show 8, Echo Dot Max, and Echo Studio. Users with older Echo speakers and smart displays will need to register on this page to get an invitation to test Alexa+.
Alexa+ is free to use during the early access period, and after that, it will be free with a Prime subscription or priced at $22.99/month. It remains to be seen if Amazon can really price its next-gen assistant that high when Google’s new Gemini for Home assistant, which is now rolling out in 16 new markets, is free to use on the company’s Nest speakers and smart displays. It would also be surprising to see Apple, which is very late to bring Siri up to par with other AI chatbots, charge anything for the long-awaited revamped version of the digital assistant.
In addition to Italy, Alexa+ is available in early access in Canada, Mexico, and the UK, and it’s now generally available in the US. A web version of Alexa+ is also available for free at Alexa.com in the US.