Earlier this month, Amazon launched an AI assistant that has the potential to improve the experience of online shoppers. Called Rufus, the chatbot is currently available to a selected few but will progressively roll out to additional U.S. customers in the coming weeks.
In the official announcement, the e-commerce giant said Rufus has been trained on its extensive product catalogue, customer reviews, community Q&As, and information from across the web.
What Can Amazon’s Rufus Do?
There’s a lot Rufus can do. Leveraging the wealth information, the company said the assistant can help customers with questions on a variety of shopping needs and individual items. Questions like “What to consider when buying running shoes?”
Rufus can also make recommendations based on conversational context and help customers compare between products.
For instance, when planning a camping trip or a home renovation project? Customers can pose queries like “What essential gear do I need for camping?” or “Help me find home gym equipment”, and Rufus will curate relevant product categories.
Amazon’s Rufus could go a long way in helping many online shoppers save time in researching and reading reviews about products. However, the company did mention that the AI won’t always get it right.
“It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right,” Amazon wrote. “We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time.”
More Than Just Rufus
Prior to launching Rufus, Amazon has been using AI technology to improve customer experiences for over 25 years.
The company has been using AI to personalise product recommendations for customers, summarise reviews, and make product listings informative for users.
“[…] The pick paths in our fulfillment centers, our drone deliveries, the conversational capabilities of Alexa, and our checkout-free Amazon Go stores are just a few examples of experiences fueled by AI,” Amazon said.
In addition to building AI solutions, Amazon invests heavily in the AI space. In September, the company announced it would invest about $4 billion in Anthropic, a company founded by former OpenAI employees.
