Amazon is expanding Alexa Plus, its revamped AI assistant, with new integrations that let it control smart home devices from major brands like iRobot and Whirlpool, and connect to services like Priceline and Canva. The expansion uses an open-source standard called the Model Context Protocol, which makes it easier for companies to add their products and services to Alexa Plus, moving beyond the limited set of third-party services available when the assistant launched in February.
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Amazon is rolling out an update to Alexa Plus that lets the AI assistant connect to smart home devices from Bosch, Delta, Ecovacs, iRobot, Yale Home, Whirlpool, Tapo, Eufy, and others, automatically routing requests to the right device. The update also adds integrations with services like Priceline, Canva, Headspace, Lyft, and others launching later this year.
Why it matters
The revamped Alexa Plus launched in February with the ability to handle multi-step requests and voice-activated routines, but initially worked with only a limited number of third-party services. By adopting the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open-source standard, Amazon is making it much easier for device makers and companies to connect their products to Alexa Plus, expanding what the assistant can do in the home and across services.
What to watch
The update is currently in preview. Additional integrations from companies including Priceline, Atom Tickets, Cengage, Fandango, and TaskRabbit—some supporting payments through Amazon Wallet—are coming later this year.
Amazon is previewing a significant upgrade to Alexa Plus that fundamentally expands the assistant's reach into both the smart home and online services. The update allows Alexa Plus to connect directly to smart home devices from major manufacturers including Bosch, Delta, Ecovacs, iRobot, Yale Home, Whirlpool, Tapo, and Eufy. Critically, the assistant can now automatically route voice requests to the correct device without manual configuration. In a demonstration Amazon provided, a user could say, "Alexa, my kid's soccer jersey could use a deep clean, but the tag says cold wash only," and Alexa Plus would interpret the garment care instruction, navigate the washing machine's cycle menu, and select the cold wash setting.
The technical foundation for this expansion is Amazon's adoption of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open-source standard that enables AI models to integrate with external systems and tools. Amazon has paired this with a new AI developer toolkit designed to lower the friction for device makers to connect to Alexa Plus, including those with specialized or previously unsupported features. Beyond smart home, the update brings integrations with consumer services: Priceline will allow customers to browse and book hotels directly through Alexa Plus, while other companies including Canva, Headspace, Lyft, Cengage, Virgin Atlantic, Weekend, Atom Tickets, Fandango, and TaskRabbit are launching integrations later this year. Several of these services—Priceline, Atom Tickets, Cengage, Fandango, and TaskRabbit—will also support payments through Amazon Wallet.
This evolution marks a departure from Alexa Plus's launch strategy. When Amazon widely launched the revamped assistant in February, it could handle multi-step requests and enable voice-driven routines, but was limited to a handful of third-party integrations: Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Uber, Thumbtack, Expedia, Yelp, Square, and Angi. The new approach, built on an open standard rather than custom engineering for each partner, aims to accelerate expansion and reduce the engineering burden on Amazon to maintain each integration.
Amazon's Alexa Plus faced a core limitation when it launched in February: despite its ability to handle multi-step voice requests and routines, it could only perform tasks with a small roster of third-party services including Ticketmaster, OpenTable, Uber, and Yelp. The new update addresses this constraint by adopting the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open-source standard that allows AI models to connect to external systems and tools. This architectural shift is significant because it lowers the barrier for companies to integrate with Alexa Plus—Amazon provides a new AI developer toolkit designed to make connections easier, even for device makers with unique capabilities that weren't previously supported.
The rollout reflects a broader industry approach to AI integration: rather than Amazon building custom connections to each service, MCP creates a standardized interface that third parties can implement themselves. This unlocks integrations across smart home devices (from washing machines that can interpret garment care tags to security systems) and consumer services (travel, entertainment, wellness). By moving from a limited allowlist to an open-standard model, Amazon is positioning Alexa Plus to compete more effectively in the AI assistant space, where the value proposition increasingly depends on seamless access to the broader digital ecosystem.
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