Amazon makes Alexa+ free on all Fire TV devices, no Prime required

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Amazon announced this week that its upgraded AI assistant Alexa+ is now available for free on all compatible Fire TV devices in the US, regardless of whether the owner has an Amazon Prime subscription. The upgrade rolls out automatically, with no app download or manual sign up required, ending a policy that previously charged non Prime members 19.99 dollars a month to access the assistant on Fire TV specifically.

Compatible devices include every current generation Fire TV Stick, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon's Ember smart TVs, and select televisions from Hisense and Panasonic that ship with Alexa+ already built in. The upgraded assistant handles conversational search that goes well beyond exact title matching, letting someone ask for a top rated thriller and then narrow the request further with something newer or with a strong female lead rather than needing to already know what they're looking for. It also manages smart home commands directly from the TV screen, arming a Ring camera feed, dimming compatible lights for movie night, and answering general questions without anyone needing to pick up a phone.

Amazon says Alexa+ users are already having nearly twice as many conversations with the assistant compared to the older, more limited version of Alexa, a figure the company is using to justify removing the paywall entirely for this specific surface. The move follows a broader industry pattern of embedding increasingly capable AI assistants into consumer electronics through automatic, non optional upgrades rather than opt in features people have to actively seek out and enable themselves. Google rolled Gemini into Google TV earlier this year along similar lines, and Roku upgraded its own voice assistant to a more AI driven version last year as well.

There's an important limit buried in the announcement though. This free tier is specifically confined to the living room screen itself. Anyone wanting the same Alexa+ capabilities on an Echo smart speaker, or wanting access to specific Ring camera features and advanced Home Modes, still needs an active Prime membership or a standalone Alexa+ subscription, meaning Amazon has effectively used its TV hardware as a loss leader to build usage habits while keeping the broader assistant ecosystem behind its existing paywall

Amazon makes its AI-powered Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required | TechCrunchtechcrunch.com