Amazon has launched its next-generation AI assistant, Alexa+, in Italy, marking a significant upgrade to its voice technology with enhanced conversational and contextual capabilities.

Available from April 15, Alexa+ represents a major evolution from the original Alexa, introducing generative AI-powered features that enable more natural interactions and real-world task execution. The assistant is designed to understand implicit requests, respond conversationally, and adapt to cultural nuances, offering a more intuitive user experience.

The development of Alexa+ for Italy went beyond simple localisation. Teams at Amazon’s research and development centre in Turin worked to build an assistant that reflects Italian language, culture and communication styles. This includes recognising context-dependent meanings, regional dialects and everyday expressions, ensuring the assistant can interpret not just what users say, but how they say it.

Alexa+ is also deeply integrated with a wide range of services and devices through Amazon’s AI infrastructure, enabling it to take action on behalf of users rather than simply responding to queries. The system is powered by advanced large language models hosted on Amazon Bedrock, forming the backbone of its enhanced reasoning and responsiveness.

The launch builds on Alexa’s strong adoption in Italy, where users have recorded more than 40 billion interactions over the past three years. With Alexa+, Amazon aims to deepen engagement by delivering a more personalised and seamless assistant experience.

By combining generative AI with local cultural understanding, Alexa+ signals Amazon’s push to redefine how voice assistants operate in everyday life, moving from command-based tools to proactive, context-aware digital companions.