Amazon has confirmed that its AI assistant Alexa+ is now rolling out for free to all compatible Fire TV devices in the US, regardless of whether the customer holds a Prime subscription. This scraps the previous $19.99-a-month fee for non-Prime users and marks a wider industry shift towards pushing AI features onto everyday consumer electronics as automatic, non-optional upgrades, echoing similar moves already made by Google and Roku on their own TV platforms.

Users will be upgraded automatically, without needing to download an app or sign up, gaining conversational search, smart home controls and AI-driven recommendations, such as asking for "a top-rated thriller" instead of searching by title. Compatible devices include current-generation Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Ember smart TVs, and partner sets from Hisense and Panasonic; Alexa+ can also control smart home devices and display Ring camera feeds. Amazon says Alexa+ users now hold almost twice as many conversations with their TV as they did using the original Alexa, which it presents as evidence of stronger engagement, though the trend of AI being bundled unbidden into consumer devices remains a point of debate.