The biggest surprise at Amazon’s press conference last week was the lack of hardware announcements. Traditionally, Amazon announces dozens of new gadgets at its events, but this time, Amazon spent 70 minutes talking about software. Specifically, Alexa Plus, its new generative AI-powered Alexa voice assistant. And that was exactly the right move.

Amazon.com. Inc will release companion devices in the fall for the artificially intelligent version of the Alexa voice assistant, Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Alexa+, Amazon’s revamped version of Alexa was unveiled Wednesday, bringing the popular voice assistant into the artificial intelligence era.

Amazon has announced Alexa Plus, an AI-powered upgrade that promises a smarter, more conversational, and proactive voice assistant.

At an event in New York on Wednesday, Amazon announced an upgraded Alexa experience — Alexa+ — powered by generative AI technologies. Onstage, Amazon’s devices and services chief Panos Panay called it a “complete re-architecture” of the AI assistant.