Doug Herrington, CEO Worldwide at Amazon Stores, has taken to social media to discuss Rufus, a new generative AI powered conversational shopping experience.
Launching this week in beta to a small subset of customers in Amazon’s mobile app, this will roll-out to additional US customers in the coming weeks.
To use Rufus, customers in the beta can start typing or speaking their questions into the search bar in Amazon’s mobile app and a Rufus chat dialogue box will appear at the bottom of their screen.
They can expand the chat dialogue box to see answers to their questions, tap on suggested questions, and ask follow-up questions in the chat dialogue box.
Customers can dismiss Rufus to return to their traditional search results at any time by swiping down to send the chat dialogue box back to the bottom of their screen.
Rufus generates answers using relevant information from across Amazon and the web with the aim of helping customers make better, more informed shopping decisions.
In an online post, Amazon said: “It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right.”
“We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time. Customers are encouraged to leave feedback by rating their answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and they have the option to provide freeform feedback as well.”
Amazon announced Rufus-its new in-app generative AI search.
The UX is different. The search results are in a chat window. I wonder how they determine what is SHOWN in that window. I didn’t see any “sponsored” results in the video. Walmart shows sponsored results in the list. https://t.co/wh2I3G54Dj
— Michelle Grant (@MGTalksRetail) February 1, 2024
In a LinkedIn post, meanwhile, Herrington said: “One of the perks of my job is early access to some of our coolest new features on Amazon.”
“For the past several months, I’ve been using the beta version of a new AI powered shopping assistant we just announced called Rufus. Today, I use Rufus almost every time I shop on Amazon, and I love it. It’s easy to use and built seamlessly into the Amazon shopping app.”
He added: “Last weekend I was shopping for a new TV. At first, the technical terms and choices were a bit bewildering to me. For example, what’s the difference between LED, OLED, and QLED TVs anyway? But all I had to do was ask that question in the search bar, and Rufus had answers.”
“I wanted to find a soy sauce alternative to use during the Whole30 program I’m trying (am I oversharing?). No problem. I asked that very question in the search bar, and Rufus had answers. Awesome.”
Herrington concluded: “I’ve loved being a beta tester, and I’m excited to share that we’ve started inviting our first group of Amazon customers to test Rufus, as well.”
“Kudos to the entire team working on Rufus. It’s a great new feature for our customers, and a reminder that it is still Day 1 at Amazon.”
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