Rufus is a knowledgeable shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s product catalog and broad web information to help answer customer questions on shopping needs, products, and comparisons. It also suggests products and aids in product discovery within the regular Amazon shopping experience. Rufus is made available in beta to a small subset of customers in Amazon’s mobile app starting today, and will progressively become available to more U.S. customers in the coming weeks.Amazon has been leveraging AI for over 25 years to enhance customer experiences. The personalized recommendations, fulfillment center workflows, drone deliveries, conversational capabilities of Alexa, and checkout-free Amazon Go stores are just a few examples of AI-driven experiences. Generative AI is expected to revolutionize almost all customer experiences that exist.Currently, Amazon has introduced several new generative AI-powered features in its store to make shopping more convenient. The AI-generated review highlights offer customers quick insights from multiple reviews to help them understand customer opinions. The Fit Review Highlights include personalized size guidance and insights. Generative AI is also used to enhance product listings for customers by helping selling partners write more engaging titles and descriptions.Building on these innovations, Rufus is introduced. It is a generative AI-powered expert shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s extensive product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and web information to answer customer questions on various shopping needs and products, provide comparisons, and make recommendations based on conversational context. From initial broad research to specific questions, Rufus aims to improve the ease with which customers can find and discover the best products to meet their needs within the same Amazon shopping experience they are familiar with. Rufus will be initially available in beta to a small subset of customers in the U.S. using the mobile app, with the intention to roll it out to the rest of the U.S. customers in the coming weeks.
With Rufus, customers can:
Learn about product categories: Customers can conduct general product research on Amazon, asking questions like “what to consider when buying headphones?”, “what to consider when detailing my car at home?”, or “what are clean beauty products?” and receive helpful information to guide their shopping mission.Shop by occasion or purpose: Customers can search for and discover products based on specific use cases by asking questions such as “what do I need for cold weather golf?” or “I want to start an indoor garden.” Rufus suggests shoppable product categories and related questions for more specific searches.Get help comparing products: Customers can ask “what’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?” or “compare drip to pour-over coffee makers” to make more confident purchase decisions.Find the best recommendations: Customers can ask for recommendations for specific needs, such as “what are good gifts for Valentine’s Day?” or “best dinosaur toys for a 5-year-old.” Rufus generates tailored results for easy browsing.Ask questions about a specific product: Customers can use Rufus to quickly get answers about individual products when viewing the product’s detail page, such as “is this pickleball paddle good for beginners?” or “is this jacket machine washable?”, or “is this cordless drill easy to hold?”. Rufus generates answers based on listing details, customer reviews, and community Q&As.
With Rufus, customers can now shop alongside a generative AI-powered expert that has in-depth knowledge of Amazon’s selection and provides information from the web to help make informed purchase decisions.
How to access the Rufus betaCustomers selected for the beta can start using Rufus by typing or speaking their questions into the search bar in Amazon’s mobile app. A Rufus chat dialog box will appear at the bottom of the screen, allowing customers to expand it to see answers to their questions, tap on suggested questions, and ask follow-up questions. Customers can dismiss Rufus at any time and return to their traditional search results by swiping down to send the chat dialog box back to the bottom of their screen.
Amazon introduces Rufus, a new generative AI-powered conversational shopping experience
Rufus generates answers using information from Amazon and the web to help customers make informed shopping decisions. While it is still early days for generative AI, the technology is continuously being improved to provide more helpful responses over time. Customers can rate their answers and provide feedback, shaping the development of Rufus. Amazon is committed to testing new features to improve the shopping experience and is looking forward to expanding the availability of Rufus to more U.S. customers in the near future. Stay tuned for more updates on Amazon’s AI innovations.
