Alexa, I’m Skeptical

It was an event long in the making. In September of 2023, Amazon took to the stage to talk about the new AI-powered Alexa which would be coming "soon". 2024 – the service's 10 year anniversary, mind you – came and went. But here we are now, just about 18 months later, with Alexa+.

While they were probably never going to actually use the 'Remarkable Alexa' codename with the shipping product, such a codename also sort of oddly frames this upgrade. Was it not deemed good enough for the 'remarkable' moniker? 'Plus' is... very um, 2023. Still, it makes some sense from a pure marketing perspective. People will understand that this is Alexa, but more expensive. This is Alexa, but better. But is she actually better?