Launched on Thursday as a beta test to a subset of Amazon app users, Amazon is piloting Rufus—a generative AI shopping assistant that operates like a chatbot. The online retail giant plans to expand its testing to additional U.S. customers over the next few weeks.
According to Amazon, Rufus is an expert shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s product catalog and information from across the web to answer customer questions on shopping needs, products, and comparisons, make recommendations based on this context, and facilitate product discovery in the same Amazon shopping experience customers use regularly.
In one example, the technology is prompted with the question “What are good gifts for Valentine’s Day?” to which the AI chatbot responds, “Chocolates.”
The company noted that the service can be used to help customers shop product categories, advise on product comparisons, recommend products, and answer specific questions about a product.
The technology is akin to Instacart’s integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform, launched last year as a search tool that also offered suggestions and information about products on the platform.
“This first-of-its-kind AI-powered search tool is designed to assist with customers’ grocery shopping questions—saving them time, inspiring their routine, and helping them make food-related decisions by offering personalized recommendations throughout the shopping experience,” a spokesperson for Instacart told SFA News Daily.
Related: Instacart Expands Product Search with AI; Advertisers Leverage AI in Social Media Marketing