amazon

Amazon has added conversational food ordering to Alexa+, its next-generation AI assistant, enabling users to order from Uber Eats and Grubhub through natural language. The feature rolls out today to Alexa+ customers with Echo Show 8 devices and larger, allowing users to browse menus, customize meals, and modify orders mid-conversation.

Amazon's Alexa+, its conversational AI assistant, begins Early Access in the UK on March 19, rolling out to hundreds of thousands of users. The updated assistant includes British English localization with regional speech patterns, slang understanding, and agentic capabilities. Free for Prime members; £20/month for non-members.

Amazon is rolling out Alexa+, its AI-powered conversational assistant, to the UK as the first market outside North America. The company is offering free early access to new Echo buyers and plans to reach hundreds of thousands of customers in the coming weeks. After the beta period ends, Prime subscribers will get free access while non-Prime users will pay £19.99 per month.

Amazon has introduced a 'sassy' personality style for Alexa+ that includes occasional censored profanity, described as combining 'unfiltered personality' with 'razor-sharp wit, playful sarcasm and occasional censored profanity.' The feature is restricted to adult users and requires additional security checks including face scans to activate.

Amazon announced a new "Sassy" personality for Alexa+ on Thursday, marketed toward adult users and protected by additional security checks including Face ID on iOS. The personality uses explicit language and wit but explicitly excludes sexual content, hate speech, and harmful material.

OpenAI has closed the largest private financing round in history, raising up to $110 billion. Amazon is investing up to $50 billion as a strategic partner. The funding amount closely matches OpenAI's newly updated $111 billion cash burn forecast.

OpenAI has closed a $110 billion funding round with Amazon committing $50 billion, Nvidia $30 billion, and SoftBank $30 billion. The company is now valued at $730 billion, following a previous $40 billion round in 2025. The funding includes custom model development agreements between OpenAI and Amazon Web Services.