Amazon releases AI chatbot that will convince you to shop more

Amazon has introduced an AI shopping assistant named Rufus, sharing the same name as the company’s corgi mascot. This new chatbot is well-versed in Amazon’s product library, customer reviews, and web information, enabling it to tackle queries about products, offer comparisons, give suggestions, and more.

Rufus is currently in beta and is only available to “select customers” for now. It’s expected to reach more users in the coming weeks. If you’re part of the beta, you can start a chat with Rufus by opening up Amazon’s mobile app and typing or speaking your questions into the search bar.

You’ll see a Rufus chat window pop up at the bottom of your screen, and you can expand it to get answers to your questions, choose from suggested questions, or ask something else.

Amazon kicked off its AI chatbot responses earlier this month, showing up on product pages for certain users. According to the company, Rufus can handle questions like “What separates trail and road running shoes?” or “What are some great gifts for Valentine’s Day?” You can also inquire about a specific product on Amazon, such as “Can this jacket go in the washing machine?” The chatbot will draw on details from the product listing, customer reviews, and community Q&As to give you an answer.

As seen in the video above, it seems like suggested questions for Rufus will pop up even when you’re just doing a basic search, like looking up “coffee maker.”

Rufus has been a long-time presence at Amazon.com, going way back to the company’s early days. He used to be the pet of Amazon’s former editor-in-chief and principal engineer, tagging along to the office daily. He’s fondly known as Amazon’s tiniest honorary employee.

Amazon has been diving deep into AI for over 25 years to enhance customer experiences. Think about the personalized recommendations you get while shopping on Amazon, the routes our fulfillment centers follow, the drone deliveries, the chit-chats you have with Alexa, and the checkout-free Amazon Go stores – all these experiences are powered by AI. According to us, generative AI is set to revolutionize nearly every customer experience we’re familiar with.