Amazon turns Alexa into an actual personal assistant

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00:00Amazon turns Alexa into an actual personal assistant.

00:04Amazon has decided that Alexa's true calling isn't telling you the weather or misunderstanding your grocery list.

00:10It's running your life.

00:12This week, Amazon announced a big expansion of its AI-powered assistant, Alexa Plus,

00:17turning it from a polite voice in a cylinder into something closer to a digital concierge that actually gets stuff done.

00:24The big upgrade comes via new third-party integrations that let Alexa Plus handle real-world tasks using plain conversational language.

00:33The first wave of partners includes Expedia for booking flights and hotels,

00:37Yelp for finding places nearby, Angie for hiring professionals, and Square for handling payments.

00:43In practical terms, this means you can stop juggling apps like a distracted octopus.

00:48Instead of opening Yelp, checking reviews, switching to OpenTable, and then pulling out your credit card,

00:53you can just say something like,

00:55find a well-rated restaurant near me and book a table for two.

00:58Alexa Plus is supposed to do the searching, comparing, booking, and paying,

01:02while you stand there feeling strangely powerful.

01:05Voice assistants have long had a reputation for being good listeners but bad helpers.

01:10You could talk to them endlessly, but once a request got even slightly complicated,

01:14it was usually faster to grab your phone and do it yourself.

01:17Amazon's fix is to lean hard into conversational AI,

01:20letting Alexa Plus remember context, understand follow-up questions,

01:24and complete multi-step tasks without starting from scratch every time.

01:28Alexa Plus isn't just responding to commands anymore, it's carrying on a conversation.

01:33Ask it to tweak a reservation, compare options, or handle the boring details.

01:37And it should keep up.

01:39No robotic reset required.

01:41Amazon is very clearly pitching Alexa Plus as less smart speaker and more personal assistant

01:46who doesn't judge your life choices.

01:48Amazon also says this is just the beginning.

01:51More partnerships are expected soon,

01:53potentially bringing Alexa Plus into healthcare,

01:55subscriptions, and other recurring services.