Amazon’s AI Shopping Assistant Rufus Is Ready for Prime Day

After five months of testing, e-commerce giant Amazon is releasing its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, on mobile throughout the U.S. via the Amazon Shopping app. By tapping the icon, shoppers can access a chat interface and query Rufus on topics such as the best portable speakers or summer dresses under $50. In time for this week’s Prime Day event, the new assistant can also provide status updates on orders. Rufus was trained on the Amazon catalog and other Internet content, so it can provide information on a wide variety of topics and reportedly also answer questions about politics and write short stories.

Based on its training, the assistant can provide “biographies of celebrities, suggest which lakes to visit in Maine, or write a short story — capabilities made familiar by ChatGPT and similar chatbots,” writes Bloomberg, which calls Rufus “Amazon’s highest-profile consumer product to take advantage of generative AI.”

Amazon also uses AI “to summarize product reviews, builds tools for developers and companies to deploy their own AI services, and is revamping its Alexa voice assistant” using the technology, according to Bloomberg.

Last week’s announcement came just ahead of the company’s annual Prime Day sale event, July 16-17. Since introducing Rufus in February, Amazon said that customers have already asked “tens of millions of questions,” providing valuable feedback.

Users can ask Rufus “things directly related to a product, like ‘Is this coffee maker easy to clean and maintain?’ as well as recommendations about the best outdoor speaker or even more general questions about the products you might need for a summer party,” The Verge reports, explaining that the assistant is accessible via an “orange and blue icon in the right corner of the app’s navigation bar.”

Because the assistant “understands more than just products, when a customer asked about a pool umbrella for Florida, Rufus shared facts about Florida’s weather, humidity and more, Amazon says,” according to TechCrunch.

The Verge finds Rufus’ wide range “a little bit concerning,” having found it provided “detailed information about President Joe Biden’s stance on gun control when asked, while linking me to Amazon search results containing gun safety locks and biometric gun safes.” Adding that Rufus “is still in beta,” The Verge speculates its guardrails may be further refined.

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