Amazon is rolling out a massive, mandatory upgrade to its AI assistant, automatically converting millions of Prime members to Alexa Plus, as per Android Authority. This isn’t an opt-in situation, and frankly, people aren’t happy about getting dragged into the new system whether they like it or not.
This major shift has been spotted recently as reports began surfacing that Prime members were receiving notifications from the e-commerce giant. The message they received frames the move as a special, complimentary perk of their existing Prime membership, informing them that their current Alexa assistant will be upgraded to the more powerful Alexa Plus for free. They are told they’ll receive a confirmation email once the conversion is complete.
The issue here is that this is a completely forced upgrade. You don’t get the option to opt in, and more importantly, you can’t opt out of the initial conversion process. When a company pushes a new product this hard, it usually means they’re prioritizing adoption numbers over user choice, and that’s never a great look for customer satisfaction. If you really prefer the old Alexa, you’re stuck going through the minor inconvenience of waiting for the upgrade to happen and then trying to manually reverse it.
It’s clear the company wants Plus adoption to happen fast, even if it means annoying millions of Prime members in the process
The company does provide a supposed escape route: you can revert to the original, standard version by simply saying the command, “Alexa, exit Alexa Plus.” However, the switch may be far more troublesome than just a quick voice command.
Users who have already experienced the mandatory upgrade are voicing serious complaints about the new Alexa Plus experience itself. The issues range from disliking the assistant’s new voice to noticing significantly longer wait times for responses. Having to wait longer for the AI to process a simple command, such as operating your smart doorbell, totally kills the snappy experience we’re used to.
The real controversy, though, comes when users try to reclaim their original, ad-free experience. One user shared a shocking report that after successfully downgrading their assistant, they were immediately “flooded by ads.” This isn’t just a slight increase in promotional content; the ads become so persistent and overwhelming that they essentially make the original assistant unusable.
The implication is clear: if you want the standard, ad-free experience that you’ve always enjoyed, you’re now being penalized with a constant stream of commercials. This effectively forces users who tried to revert right back to Alexa Plus, making the downgrade option almost pointless. It feels like the company is strong-arming its most loyal customers, Prime members, into adopting the new AI after overhauling the Fire TV interface recently.
Now, for the bizarre potential fix. Amidst all the frustration, one user claims to have found a quirky workaround to stop the ads from appearing on the standard Alexa. Apparently, changing your language setting to Canadian English somehow bypasses the ad flood.
This massive automatic rollout happens shortly after the company also announced the launch of a dedicated website for Alexa Plus. This site allows users to access the upgraded AI assistant directly from their web browser. However, that convenience is now completely overshadowed by the compulsory nature of the device upgrade.
Published: Jan 13, 2026 03:30 pm