Amazon introduces Rufus, a new AI-powered virtual assistant for shoppers

In an endeavor to enhance its AI capabilities, Amazon has introduced a novel AI-driven assistant named Rufus, tailored for online shoppers. Amazon asserts that Rufus is adeptly trained on its extensive product catalog and information gleaned from the internet, enabling it to respond to customer inquiries about shopping needs, products, and comparisons. The AI assistant goes a step further by offering recommendations based on contextual understanding, thereby facilitating product discovery within the familiar Amazon shopping interface that customers regularly engage with.

Where will Rufus be available initially? Rufus is set to debut exclusively in the United States. Amazon notes, “Launching today in beta to a small subset of customers in Amazon’s mobile app, Rufus will progressively roll out to additional US customers in the coming weeks.”

What are Rufus’s capabilities? Amazon purports that Rufus significantly enhances the ease with which customers can locate and explore the best products tailored to their needs. For example, customers can now pose questions like “what’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?” or “compare drip to pour-over coffee makers,” aiding them in finding products that align with their preferences and enabling more confident purchase decisions. Additionally, customers can seek recommendations for specific requirements, such as “what are good gifts for Valentine’s Day?” or “best dinosaur toys for a 5-year-old.” Amazon explains that Rufus generates results tailored to each specific question, streamlining the process for customers to peruse more refined search outcomes.

How to utilize Rufus? To engage with Rufus, beta users can simply type or voice their questions into the search bar within Amazon’s mobile app. A Rufus chat dialog box will then appear at the bottom of the screen. Customers can expand this dialog box to view answers, tap on suggested questions, and pose follow-up inquiries within the chat interface. At any point, users can dismiss Rufus and revert to traditional search results by swiping down to send the chat dialog box back to the bottom of the screen, as per Amazon’s guidance.