Amazon launches Alexa+ across Canada as it ramps up $200 B AI spending

Amazon has opened its next‑generation Alexa+ assistant to all Canadian users. Built on a new large language model and supporting both English and French, the service adds "agentic" capabilities that let it manage multi‑step tasks such as restaurant reservations via OpenTable, travel planning with TripAdvisor and Fodor’s, and smart‑home controls. Prime members receive unlimited access across devices at no extra charge, while non‑Prime users can use a limited free version; a full‑feature subscription costs $27.99 per month.

The Canadian rollout is part of Amazon’s broader push to expand Alexa+ internationally while it pursues an aggressive capital‑expenditure program of roughly $200 billion through 2026 to build AI‑focused cloud infrastructure. The spending plan, aimed at expanding data‑center capacity and networking for high‑intensity AI workloads, comes amid regulatory scrutiny in the EU and a pending antitrust case in the United States, as well as a slightly earlier Prime Day sales event scheduled for June 23‑26.