Amazon Alexa Plus now generates AI podcasts from any topic

Amazon announced that Alexa Plus, its upgraded AI assistant, now includes Alexa Podcasts — a feature that generates full podcast episodes on virtually any topic using two AI-generated hosts. Users can specify a subject (e.g., the history of the Roman Empire, new music, or World Cup expectations), and Alexa Plus will first present an overview of what the AI hosts plan to discuss. Users can then steer the conversation and adjust the episode length before the generation begins. The AI hosts draw information from Amazon's partnerships with 200 news publications, including Reuters, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, Vox, and Politico. Once the episode is ready, users receive a notification on their Echo Show device or in the Alexa app, where they can play it directly or access it via the Music and More section.

This update mirrors the AI-generated podcast capabilities already popularized by Google's NotebookLM, which Microsoft Edge recently integrated as well. Alexa Plus, which rolled out to all US users in February and has since been embedded into Amazon's online marketplace, now offers this feature as a way to turn curated news and educational content into engaging audio conversations. The move positions Amazon as a direct competitor in the AI audio content space, leveraging its extensive news partnerships to deliver personalized, on-demand podcasts without human hosts. For professionals, this means instant access to AI-summarized, conversational deep dives on any topic, directly from their smart speaker or phone.