Amazon makes its AI-powered Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required

# Amazon makes its AI-powered Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required | TechCrunch Source: [https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/amazon-makes-its-ai-powered-alexa-free-on-fire-tv-no-prime-required/](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/19/amazon-makes-its-ai-powered-alexa-free-on-fire-tv-no-prime-required/) AI is coming to your TV, whether you want it or not\. On Wednesday, Amazon said its AI assistant, Alexa\+, will be rolled out to all compatible Fire TV devices in the U\.S\. for free, whether or not the customer has a Prime subscription\. The update brings conversational search, smart home controls, and AI\-powered recommendations, the company says\. Previously,[Alexa\+](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/new-alexa-generative-artificial-intelligence)cost $19\.99 per month for anyone who didn’t have an Amazon Prime membership, and was initially made available to the[new Fire TV devices](https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/30/alexa-comes-to-new-fire-tv-devices-with-ai-powered-conversations/)the company announced last fall\. Now,[Amazon says](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/alexa-plus-fire-tv-free-ai)that everyone will be upgraded to Alexa\+ automatically\. They won’t need to download an app or sign up for a subscription\. Compatible devices include all the current\-generation Amazon Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Ember smart TVs, and other smart TVs that have Alexa\+ built in, including Hisense and Panasonic\. The move follows an industry\-wide push to make AI services available on more consumer electronic devices, often through non\-optional upgrades like this\. Google, for instance, rolled out[Gemini to its Google TV platform earlier this year,](https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/29/more-gemini-features-are-coming-to-google-tv/)replacing simple search features with AI\-powered conversational modes\. Roku[upgraded its voice assistant to AI](https://www.pcmag.com/news/rokus-voice-assistant-gets-ai-smarts-to-tell-you-if-a-show-is-worth-your)last year, too\. The companies point to metrics like time spent with the features to suggest positive consumer adoption trends\. For instance, Amazon says that Alexa\+ customers now have nearly twice as many conversations on Fire TV as they did with the original Alexa, which apparently suggests that customers with Alexa\+ are no longer using their TV only as a lean\-back source of entertainment, and are instead engaging with the AI, too\. Whether or not that’s a good thing is debatable\. Amazon says that with Alexa\+, users don’t have to ask for shows by title, but can instead ask for suggestions based on other factors such as theme, age or popularity — for example, “a top\-rated thriller” or “a historical drama with a strong female lead\.” The AI bot can also help customers manage and control their smart home, including displaying their Ring camera feeds on the TV\. *When you purchase through links in our articles,[we may earn a small commission](https://techcrunch.com/techcrunch-affiliate-monetization-standards/)\. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence\.* Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011\. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb\. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I\.T\. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software\. You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing[sarahp@techcrunch\.com](mailto:[email protected])or via encrypted message at sarahperez\.01 on Signal\. [View Bio](https://techcrunch.com/author/sarah-perez/)