Alexa 'killed my fish': Tales from Amazon employee beta testers

• Amazon employees in an internal Slack voiced frustration during beta testing of new Alexa+ features.
• The messages highlight the continuing headaches behind Amazon's long-delayed rollout of Alexa+
• Amazon says millions of users have access and "overwhelming majority" of feedback has been positive.

The Slack message from an Amazon employee beta-testing the company's long-delayed Alexa+ was the stuff of nightmares.

"When I ask Alexa to turn off the light, it should turn off the light, not everything on the strip," the software engineer wrote in October in a channel for workers to share feedback on unreleased Alexa+ features. "It turned off the power strip that my aquarium filter is on and killed my fish."

Other testers complained that the assistant talked non-stop, ignoring repeated commands to be quiet. Or that it played a device at full volume when no one was home.

"The behavior has become unbearably erratic," one employee wrote. "I just wanted to test the new experiences, but I wasn't expecting to get everything messed up."

The messages highlight the continuing headaches behind Amazon's rollout of Alexa+, a revamped version of its voice assistant that has been marred by years of delays and technical problems. It was released to the public earlier this year, but remains available only to users who request access or use newer devices.

Amazon's Alexa+ beta-tester channel, which in October included more than 6,400 Amazon employees, has served as a candid forum for early testers to share feedback on unreleased Alexa+ features. Those include a more conversational speech mode and a new browser-based version of the AI-powered assistant, which Amazon introduced to the public in December.

Dozens of testers wrote that once they linked the unreleased features to their existing Alexa setups, routine tasks began to break down, turning what was meant to be a smarter assistant into a recurring source of frustration, according to messages that were posted to the Slack channel in October.

Amazon has long promoted a culture that encourages employees to use and critique products internally. Early testing is designed to surface and correct bugs. Business Insider didn't see any comments posted to the channel after October, so it's not clear if some of the issues have been resolved.

The employee feedback in this Slack channel referred to a version of Alexa+ that differs from what's currently available to the public and doesn't reflect the typical customer experience, an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider. Tens of millions of users now have access, the spokesperson said, and the "overwhelming majority" of feedback has been positive.

"As with any other consumer technology company, it's a standard part of the development process to beta-test products and features internally, well before they're distributed to customers," the spokesperson said.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy remains bullish on Alexa+. On a call with analysts in October, he said Alexa+ users tend to have longer interactions with the voice assistant and engage across a wider range of topics than with the older version. Amazon has made Alexa+ free for Prime subscribers, but non-Prime users must pay $19.99 a month.

"We continue to be energized by the response to Alexa+ compared to what we call the classic Alexa experience," Jassy said during the call.

Some employees wondered aloud in the Alexa+ Slack channel whether consumers would pay for it.

"All my experiences thus far with Alexa+, inclusive of this one, haven't convinced me that, other than the improved conversation flow, anything would justify paying a subscription fee," one staffer wrote.

Beta testers reported on Slack that Alexa+ sometimes failed to respond to voice commands, lost its Wi-Fi connection, or became unresponsive even when it appeared to be online. Some employees said it took up to five minutes to get a response; others reported that their Alexa devices stopped working entirely.

Several employees asked how to opt out of beta testing.

"None of my devices, including the Alexa app, are responsive anymore," an employee wrote.

Music playback emerged as a recurring pain point.

"It's so discouraging that we're in Q4 2025 and Alexa+ still can't play a song I ask for," one employee wrote.

Another reported that a device began playing music at 3 a.m. He eventually unplugged it.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at ekim@businessinsider.com or Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 650-942-3061. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.