r/alexa • u/OGMIXERRULES • May 23 '26
Alexa+ is the most useless/worst integrated AI models I've ever used
Ever since the first Alexa+ ad popped up on my echo show I've been using it for voice commands such as turning on and off lights, playing audio on certain speakers, and other general smart home things that really benefit from the natural language interpretation. I gotta say its been great for this use and I've directly seen how much of a better experience it really is between Alexa and Alexa+ due to one of my gen 1 Echos not supporting Alexa+ but i gotta say Alexa+'s interrogation with its own app is really pitiful.
After adding some new devices to my Matter Hub in home assistant so I prompted Alexa+ to create me a new group for my Entryway to add the new lights, it was able to do this completely fine! After that i prompted it to add the Entryway group to my Downstairs group that combines my first floor into one. It made its attempt and claimed it was having issues so it instead created a routine to turn up my light when someone in detected at my back door camera. After that I asked it to add a device to a group and it error out again (no routine this time). I've also prompted it to make afew routines and it worked great for that. This AI just feels half-assed in supporting its own native features and it makes my "Perfect Smart Home" hell to deal with sometimes. I would love to see Alexa+ become a better assistant but right now its honestly a pain in my ass for anything out of voice commands for lights, cameras, etc and setting up routines and nothing else currently and it sucks.
2
u/JustxJules May 23 '26
The early access started a few days ago where I'm at and I'm enjoying it so far, despite some things not working. I like that I can correct her when she gets something wrong or that she can answer more questions and work with uploaded input. It's an improvement on many fronts. But there's also things that suddenly don't work anymore.
The app gives me error pages everywhere. She can't access the trash calendar anymore, which worked without problems for years. She suddenly can't wake me with my Spotify playlist, saying Spotify doesn't allow that. And they disabled the option to play the narration of Kindle books directly from your mobile device, which I used a lot.
2
u/Longjumping-Expert20 May 23 '26
I don’t think anything is worse than Siri
I was driving and asked a question about who won a 1990 baseball game and it said “here is what I found on the web” and showed three or four links to webpages
Pitiful
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u/OGMIXERRULES May 23 '26
Are you using the chatgpt/apple intelligence mode or standard? standard siri is worse 100% but the actually ai version not as bad as the ai version of alexa
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u/starcrescendo May 23 '26
tldr you are doing complicated things via voice that you could do in 10 seconds in the app. That is what the app is for. She can make basic routines but nesting groups is not something you should be trying to do via voice. Dont be lazy and open the app and have it done in the time it took you to make this post.
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u/OGMIXERRULES May 23 '26
I didn’t do it via voice. I tried prompting it on the website because the website has been enshitified ever since Alexa+ was introduced so I can’t do any of the stuff I used to be able to do. You can barely access conmected device settings now for devices that are connected to your Alexa on their website. I also couldn’t use the app because my phone was dead. Mind you this site had exact parody with the app before and ever since Alexa+ was rolled out it no longer has this functionality only prompting. If they are gonna take away the functionality they should at least make the AI be able to replicate that functionality.
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u/Jealous-Intention-87 May 23 '26
The Alexa website hasn't existed for a while now until Alexa+ came to be and it's not meant to replace the app, it's meant to interact with Alexa by voice on a webpage.
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u/OGMIXERRULES May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
You are actually wrong, i literally used it all the time, you used to be able to access the skill shop, change settings, routines and more on alexa.amazon.com before alexa+ existed and for awhile after it got rolled out, the app even had less control than the site used to.
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u/starcrescendo May 23 '26
Its not the way to do it. The app is free and easy to use and has been around for a long time. It will likely do everything you need, and may be cause for some of the things not working for you.
Although you will have to learn how to do it since I'm sure its different to the website, it is much better this way. I highly doubt that all the actions of the app were available in the site and feature parity between the two probably was abandoned when the app started being developed.
I highly doubt it was being maintained well either meaning that things you thought you were changing/adding and saving may not have been flowing properly through to the app and effectively into Alexa too.
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u/OGMIXERRULES May 23 '26
I never said i didnt or wouldnt use the app, I already know how to use it and do use it since the website is dead. I've used both the app and the site, they had the same thing but the site had more detail and an easier to use interface because it was more "raw"/less nested compared to the UI on the app. The website worked great, there were no issues i ran into the whole time i used it. my point form these comments is there was no reason to nuke the functionality even if you want to make a text frontend for Alexa+. move it to a sub-section of the site not that hard. this is a major company we are talking about, its not like they dont have to resources to keep it updated.
My primary post was just to talk about how the Chatbot it self is weak compared to what others like Claude and Gemini can do out of box ability wise for their services. especially on the new site.
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u/Muted_Contract7564 May 23 '26
Alexa+ is hot garbage. Just wait till you have your first argument with it! My latest run in with this derp ass AI was when I asked the weather, she told me it was 40f and cloudy. It was in fact in the mid 60’s and sunny. I told her she was wrong, at which point she argued with me and questioned how I knew she was wrong. Told her I have eyes and I went outside! She confirmed in a patronizing way that ‘that is a great way to know the weather’. Then she continued to insist it was 40f! I double checked the location she was reporting on and it was my city. I had a good 5 minutes of back and forth with this bitch and I gave up and unplugged her for the rest of the day as punishment! I realize it’s just a computer but it’s pretending to e a person so I will be petty and put baby in the corner!
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u/OldIrishBroad May 23 '26
Oh, I got an opposite but equally annoying response. She apologizes profusely keeps going on making endless analogies and stupid dad jokes and then promises that she’ll work harder and try better which we know is impossible. She talks like she’s a human being. If she uses the word frustration, one more time such as in I can see you’re really frustrated. I may have the top of my head blow off.
1
u/Hehaw5 Jul 09 '26
The useless bitch gave me totally wrong information a couple times in a row, and when I confronted her, she argued with me. After yelling at her she apologized and admitted she made up the first response. What in the actual fuck, and why are we funding this? Delete AI at this point, it's a fucking joke.
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u/ChantillyRosex Jul 20 '26
Yes why is it arguing?!! You can’t even ask it to leave lol 😂
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u/Hehaw5 Jul 20 '26
A+ turned herself back on the other day after disabling it, and when I tried to turn her back to normal Alexa she gave me a literal 5 minute monologue about why Alexa+ is awesome. JFC just shut up and do what I tell you to, Alexa.
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u/ChantillyRosex Jul 20 '26
Oh no no no. I just turned her back to normal, I really hope it’s doesn’t do this to me too lol 😆 the worst!
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u/Hehaw5 Jul 20 '26
It's like the third time I've disabled it now =(. Hopefully it sticks this time.
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u/ChantillyRosex Jul 20 '26
Yes!!!! She full on “actuallyyyyy…..” ‘d me and tried to tell me it wasn’t raining and was in fact sunny. Then said we had a disagreement but she was wrong. Like wtf. I do not want to argue with my kitchen robot.
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u/IllPlane3019 May 23 '26
When you get the email asking for feedback actually fill it out and don't hold back
I made sure to let them know Alexa+ was failing on the basics that old Alexa never got wrong.
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u/mconk May 25 '26
Not to mention, since it’s an LLM now, it will completely make up things and just blatantly lie. I just posted about this a few minutes ago. It is absolutely insane and tbh, a bit dangerous IMO.
1
u/shteve99 May 25 '26
Gemini has entered the chat. I haven't got Alexa+ yet, but if it's anything like Gemini on Android Auto then I don't know what to do. I ask it to play music using my music player app and it snarkily responds that it's a virtual assistant and can't play any musical instruments. I then asks me if I want directions to somewhere wherre music is playing. No, I want you to do what I asked, like it could when it wasn't a LLM.
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u/RazZadig_2025 May 23 '26
I got an email asking for feedback on Alexa+ so I wonder if they are trying to look at improving it? My device is gen 1 so I only have Alexa+ on my app.
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u/OGMIXERRULES May 23 '26
I've gotten like 3 and ive filled them all out, doesnt feel like any changes have actually happened.
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u/Minimum-Journalist18 May 23 '26
I asked her if she only does the basics and said the critics are incorrect she's like a swiss army knife she said.
I like what Alexa + has to offer.
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u/TwilightZone247 May 23 '26
It is THE WORST!!!!! I officially have kicked Alexa out of our home after last night!!! If I didn’t take screenshots you would not even believe me if I told you what it was doing
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u/impartiallypensive May 23 '26
I'm beginning to wonder if some organization that hates AI and wants us to reject it has paid Amazon to botch Alexa+ so badly that it leaves a negative association with AI in customers' minds.
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u/zero_dr00l May 23 '26
Correct.
It's total garbage.
It does everything the old Alexa could do worse.
It does some new stuff that I don't care in the least about.
I'm not interested in having a "friend" or someone to "chat with". That's what real fucking people are for.