Up until now Amazon has mostly avoided stuffing Alexa with ads, but according to a report from Mashable, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broached the idea of delivering ads in Alexa Plus during the company’s recent earnings call.
Alexa Plus is the company’s premium AI assistant that is supposed to be more naturally conversational than the previous Alexa. Jassy reportedly said that there is a “significant financial opportunity” in delivering ads via Alexa Plus.
“I think over time, there will be opportunities, you know, as people are engaging in more multi-turn conversations to have advertising play a role — to help people find discovery and also as a lever to drive revenue,” Jassy said, as found in the earnings call transcript.
What is Alexa+?
The new Alexa, introduced in February, has “enhanced” conversational abilities that are meant to put it on other AI assistants like Google’s Gemini or ChatGPT. With improved memory its supposed to remember your details and help with managing tasks like booking tables for date night or buying groceries.
Currently, Amazon offers a $19.99 a month subscription for non-Prime members. Prime subscribers, which costs $14.99 a month or $139 annually, can get Alexa+ for free Many Amazon devices are Alexa+ capable, though not all.
However, Alexa has largely been an ad-free experience for the last decade since it was introduced.
Perhaps it’s not too surprising that Amazon would consider adding some kind of revenue procuring element to its AI assistant. The company has struggled for years to upgrade Alexa as other AI assistants surpassed Amazon who introduced chatbot assistants to the market.
What kind of Alexa+ ads are we talking about?
Largely, integrating ads is a revenue ploy to recoup some of the billions Amazon has burned in trying to turn its smart assistant around.
Both Google and OpenAI have explored putting ads in Gemini and ChatGPT. OpenAI teased the idea in December of 2024 though the company stepped back from the idea in the same sentence.
Amazon has not officially made moves to add commercials to Alexa+ conversations, but Jassy framed the idea as helpful. It would supposedly assist you in finding products that you might want to buy.
With no set plans, it’s worth keeping an eye on Alexa+ to see how or if Amazon actually follows through with Jassy’s idea and how obtrusive they’ll become. Hopefully they’ll be skippable at the very least.