Rufus, an AI shopping assistant, will be available on Amazon

Rufus is a new artificial intelligence shopping assistant that Amazon unveiled on Thursday.

The purpose of the tool is to help consumers with product purchasing and searching. Customers using the Amazon mobile app can voice or enter questions into the search field, and a chat window will pop up at the bottom of the screen. Questions like “What are the differences between trail and road running shoes?” can be asked in a conversational manner by users. or “Compare drip and pour-over coffee makers.”

According to a blog post from Amazon, “Rufus meaningfully improves how easy it is for customers to find and discover the best products to meet their needs.”

Rufus uses to inquiries by utilising data from online user assessments, Q&As, and Amazon’s product catalogue, according to the company.

Amazon stated that although it is already testing the service with a small number of American users, it plans to roll it out across the country in the upcoming weeks.

According to CEO Andy Jassy, generative AI will be used by the company in all of its divisions. After the bell on Thursday, Amazon will probably provide an update on its AI efforts when it releases its fourth-quarter profits.

Taking use of the enthusiasm caused by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amazon has released a number of generative AI tools and services in recent months. The business has tried AI features to assist independent sellers in creating listings, as well as tools to respond to inquiries from customers and condense feedback. Aside from its retail division, Amazon has debuted Bedrock, a generative AI tool for cloud users, and Q, a chatbot for businesses.