How to replace Alexa with ChatGPT on an Amazon Echo

The rise of AI assistants has opened new possibilities, and ChatGPT has quickly outshined traditional voice assistants like Alexa. While Amazon’s smart speaker network remains massive, many users now seek a way to integrate the power of OpenAI’s chatbot into their everyday Echo devices. Fortunately, replacing Alexa with ChatGPT is now entirely possible—and surprisingly simple.

Get your accounts ready

To begin, you’ll need an OpenAI account (for the API key) and an Amazon Developer account. The OpenAI key gives your Echo access to ChatGPT’s brain, while the Developer account lets you build a custom Alexa Skill to bridge the two. Setup is free, though OpenAI uses a pay-as-you-go model.

Build a new Alexa Skill

In your Amazon Developer dashboard, go to the Alexa Skills Kit and create a new skill. Choose “Custom”, then “Alexa-hosted (Python)” as your hosting option. Next, use the “Import Skill” feature with this GitHub template: https://github.com/k4l1sh/alexa-gpt. This template is pre-configured to connect Alexa with ChatGPT.

Insert your OpenAI key

Navigate to the Code tab and paste your API key into the designated area. Save and deploy your code. Once deployed, make sure to configure the invocation phrase under the Build tab—this is the trigger Alexa will listen for to launch your custom ChatGPT assistant.

Start using ChatGPT on your Echo

Testing the Skill is as easy as saying, for example, “Alexa, open chat bot.” As long as your Echo device is linked to the same Amazon account, your custom Skill will be ready to use—no need to publish it.