Amazon Beats Apple to Smarter Music AI With Alexa+

According to 9to5Mac, Amazon has launched its next-generation Alexa+ assistant inside the Amazon Music app on iOS and Android starting today. The intelligent assistant can create playlists from both general and highly specific prompts, answer complex questions about music genres and artist influences, and engage in natural conversations about songs. Amazon says testing showed customers explored music three times more with Alexa+ than with original Alexa, and those who searched for recommendations listened to nearly 70% more music. The feature is currently in beta for Alexa+ Early Access members, but will eventually cost $19.99 per month after testing concludes, though it will remain free for Amazon Prime subscribers. This rollout comes as Apple’s similar Siri intelligence features aren’t expected until 2026.

Timing is everything

Here’s the thing that really stands out: Amazon just delivered what Apple has been promising for the future. While we’re all waiting for Apple Intelligence to eventually make Siri actually useful with music, Amazon went ahead and shipped it. Right now. And they’re doing it on Apple’s own platform with an iOS app.

That’s a pretty bold move when you think about it. Amazon basically looked at Apple’s 2026 timeline and said “we’ll do that today.” The examples they’re showing—asking about song meanings, tracing sample origins, having actual conversations about music—this is exactly the kind of smart assistant interaction Apple has been teasing.

The price question

Now let’s talk about that $19.99 monthly fee. That seems… steep. Really steep. But there’s a huge caveat—it’s free for Prime members. And how many people subscribe to Prime these days? Basically everyone.

So is Amazon actually planning to charge standalone fees, or is this mostly about driving more Prime subscriptions? My guess is the latter. They’re creating another compelling reason to stay in the Amazon ecosystem. Smart play, honestly.

What this means for Apple

Apple now has some serious pressure. They’ve been talking about this smarter Siri for what feels like forever, and here comes Amazon actually delivering the goods. And Amazon’s doing it across platforms—iOS and Android both get the same experience.

The testing numbers Amazon shared are pretty convincing too. Three times more music exploration? 70% more listening? If those stats hold up in the real world, this could fundamentally change how people interact with music streaming services. Suddenly “play some music” becomes “find me songs that sound like early 2000s indie rock but with female vocals and no acoustic guitars.”

We’ll be keeping a close eye on how this develops—you can follow our latest coverage on Twitter and YouTube for updates. The AI music assistant wars are officially heating up, and Amazon just fired the first real shot.