‘All right mate?’: Amazon pins UK hopes on AI upgrade of Alexa
“Commiserations, mate, Chelsea lost 3-0 in the Champions League last night against Paris Saint-Germain,” says Alexa as it attempts to break the news gently to an awaiting Blues fan.Such is the injection of personality and understanding that Amazon hopes will lead to Britons re-engaging with their millions of Alexa devices, restoring it to the cutting edge of voice assistants rather than resigned to being a glorified egg timer.After its early access launch last year in the US, the long-awaited generative AI upgrade Alexa+ is finally making its debut in the UK, supporting eight years of existing devices strewn through more than half of UK households.With the UK being Amazon’s most engaged market and more than 40 accents to contend with across the UK and Ireland, the “next-generation ambient AI assistant” has its work cut out for it.The service will be available immediately for new purchases of Amazon’s latest generation of Echo and Show devices, with an invite system in operation for existing devices, which Amazon’s head of Alexa and Echo, Daniel Rausch, insists will progress faster than it did in the US.
“We’ve eliminated the need for that Alexa-speak, such as ‘turn on bedroom lamp two’, you can just speak naturally,” Rausch said,“Alexa+ knows you, your home, your family,And is available anywhere, any time, as life does not happen in a chat box,”Much of the experience has been built in Amazon’s AI labs in the UK in Cambridge, but in limited demos Alexa+ butchered the pronunciation of player names and used “zero” instead of “nil” for football scores,Amazon still has work do to.
The upgrade is free during its “early access” period, but it remains to be seen whether users will subsequently be willing to fork out £19,99 a month for Alexa+ or take up an Amazon Prime subscription into which it is bundled,Its reception in the US, where it has been widely available since February, has been mixed, with critics complaining of inconsistency and fabrication – two issues that have dogged genAI since its inception,Despite this, Rausch says engagement with Alexa+ has increased month on month, including a 25% increase in music listening and a 50% increase in smart home control, due to the reduced friction and vastly expanded capability,Amazon promises Alexa+ can perform complex multi-stage actions, such as turning off the lights, turning down the thermostat, locking the doors and putting the alarm on all in one command.
It also promises to be able to remember your likes and dislikes, the teams or players you support, the movies you like and the music you love, and to be able to do that for different members of your family,But Amazon is also stepping into the world of agentic AI using links with partner services to perform real-world actions on your behalf, such as ordering a takeaway, booking a restaurant in a free slot on your calendar or remembering your mother’s birthday and buying her a present – from Amazon, of course,Whether that’s enough to revitalise smart speaker sales that have reportedly fallen off a cliff in the UK and stem job losses remains to be seen,Injecting something as powerful as genAI into the ambient environment of millions of homes where any member of the family, including kids whom Alexa+ is much better at understanding, can interact with it also carries great risk,But unlike some competitors, Rausch says Amazon is ready.
“With years of experience of building consumer AI products we know you have to intentionally build guard rails into a product from the beginning, so that it doesn’t answer problematic questions.“Someone is trying to break it every day.It’s not something we crow about, but that’s why we have the Responsible AI team.That’s their entire job.”
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump: ‘He uses his bones to feel things instead of his brain’
Late-night hosts on Monday discussed the Academy Awards, Maga’s incoherent statements on the Iran war and raised an eyebrow to Donald Trump’s claims of support from an anonymous former president.On Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host focused on Trump’s comments to the press in week three of the Iran war, or as Kimmel called it “Operation Epsteino Distracto”.On Truth Social, Trump wrote that it was a “great honour” to kill “scumbags” in Iran.“He’s been talking very tough for a guy who seems to almost be in a coma right now,” Kimmel said.“Even with all the killing he has been enjoying so much, he is very low energy lately,” the host continued
Carnivàle revisited: is this HBO’s strangest show?
Carnivàle premiered on HBO in 2003 and was cancelled after only two seasons. In the immediate aftermath, this decision was protested by the small but dedicated cult following the show had amassed (to the tune of 50,000 emails).But in the years since, as the television canon has expanded and the taste for mystery-box TV has waned, Carnivàle now seems little more than a minor curio in HBO’s ever-expanding back catalogue. So what is this curio about?Carnivàle follows the exploits of its titular carnival as they travel across the American dust bowl in the 1930s. At the beginning of the series, these nomadic showpeople pick up Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), an ex-con with a mysterious past (and inexplicable powers)
‘We kicked Bono’s arse’: how we made Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again (with a little help from Kraftwerk)
‘Kerry’s spoken verse needed 39 takes spread over several months because she’d had her tonsils out’People never believe me that Kraftwerk created Atomic Kitten. In 1996, my band OMD released Walking on the Milky Way, which I thought was one of the best songs I’d ever written. But in the age of Britpop, we were perceived as an 80s synthpop band, past our sell-by date. Radio 2 wouldn’t play the song and Woolworths wouldn’t stock it. I thought: “I’m functioning with one arm tied behind my back
Gatz review – the Great Gatsby performed in eight and a half hours of attentive, immersive joy
A man enters his office in the morning, finds his computer on the fritz and, after a few attempts to turn it on and off again, comes across a copy of F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. So he starts to read and when his colleagues enter they find themselves taking on the characters, and soon the novel unfolds around us, word by word. The New York theatre company Elevator Repair Service has produced a work that is not quite adaptation – given it doesn’t really adapt the novel at all – but that is utterly transfixing nonetheless.Following a keen interest in non-dramatic texts, the company wanted to see what would happen when a powerful literary work was read and performed in its entirety. The result is both strange and strangely familiar
How to Make a Killing to Wu-Tang Clan: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Glen Powell indulges in some murder most profitable, and the influential rap collective arrive in the UK complete with a clutch of peerless classicsHow to Make a KillingOut nowLoosely inspired by the much-loved Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, here is a dark comedy that sees Glen Powell play an upwardly mobile schemer who isn’t afraid to murder his way to his inheritance. Directed by John Patton Ford (Emily the Criminal).Reminders of HimOut nowMaika Monroe (It Follows) stars as a woman who goes to prison following a car accident in which her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow) is killed. On release, she finds herself drawn to a handsome local bar owner (Tyriq Withers). Romance based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel
The Guide #234: Five big questions before the 2026 Oscars
Happy Oscars Eve eve to you all. The film industry’s glitziest night takes place on Sunday, at an ungodly hour for those of us covering it from the other side of the Atlantic. Coffee will be essential for anyone staying up, as will the Guardian’s annual liveblog, covering every last minute of the ceremony as well as its red carpet run-up. Head over to the homepage on Sunday evening for that, plus news and commentary on the night’s events.There’s plenty to read before that too: our annual Oscar hustings, making the case for each of this year’s best picture nominees (I sided with Sentimental Value); an interview with Academy top dog Bill Kramer; a piece on the increasingly toxic discourse around many of this year’s nominees; and Guardian film editor Catherine Shoard’s reader Q&A on this year’s race and the state of film in general
Prem ‘train’ returns with Saracens looking for instant lift at Bath
March Madness 2026 women’s predictions: can anyone thwart a UConn repeat?
‘The only thing left for me was death’: meet the meth-addict long jumper who has been to hell and back
Jack Draper adds new string to his bow as he rebuilds his game
Judge in rugby brain injury lawsuit tells legal teams to hurry up as cases drag on
The WNBA’s new labor deal explained: what it means for pay, power and the league’s future