If you’ve been deliberately holding off on Amazon’s new AI-powered Alexa, that choice may soon be out of your hands. Amazon has begun notifying some users that Alexa+ is being automatically rolled out to their devices, regardless of whether they’ve opted in.
In emails sent to users, Amazon frames the change as a perk for Prime members. “As a Prime member, you get Alexa+ for free,” the message reads, adding that all devices tied to the account will be upgraded to the “new, conversational, and more delightful Alexa experience.” According to Amazon, the update takes only a few minutes and requires no action from the user. The company does note that users can revert to the original assistant by saying, “Alexa, exit Alexa+,” although some recipients report that Alexa attempts to persuade them to stay on the new version before switching back.
The forced upgrades come as Amazon accelerates its Alexa+ early access program. After an initial rollout that began in New York City last February, invites were relatively limited for months. That changed later in the year, with Amazon dramatically expanding access — to the point where, by the holiday season, most users who wanted to try Alexa+ could do so with little effort.
Still, a sizable group of users chose to stick with the classic Alexa. Many of those holdouts cited concerns about breaking carefully tuned smart home automations or introducing new issues into systems that were already working reliably. Their hesitation isn’t unfounded, as reactions to Alexa+ have been mixed. While some users praise its improved conversational abilities and AI-driven features, others say it still struggles with basic smart home commands.
After months of testing, Alexa+ continues to feel like a work in progress. Some of its more ambitious agentic capabilities remain unfinished, while smaller features — such as triggering a robot vacuum when you say a room “looks dirty” — already function as advertised. Amazon has emphasized that Alexa+ remains in early access and is not yet a paid upgrade. Crucially, unlike Google’s Gemini transition on smart speakers, Amazon is still allowing users to roll back to the old Alexa if they prefer.