# Amazon makes its AI-powered Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required > Source: > Published: 2026-08-19 15:00:00+00:00 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 industrywide 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.