Amazon launches its Gen AI-powered shopping assistant 'Rufus' in the US

Amazon Rufus

E-commerce and tech giant Amazon has launched its generative AI-powered shopping assistant ‘Rufus’ in the United States. As per Amazon, Rufus is now available to all US customers. They can start using Rufus in the Amazon Shopping app by “tapping the Rufus icon (chat bubbles with sparkle) in the navigation bar at the bottom of their screen”. But first, Amazon customers in the US should update their Amazon Shopping app to the latest version.

On tapping the Rufus icon, “a Rufus chat box will appear, and customers can either ask their question, or tap one of the suggested questions to begin a conversation”, said Amazon in a website post.

According to Amazon, when customers ask Rufus product-related questions, Rufus sources its answers from the “helpful information found in product listing details, customer reviews, and community Q&As”.

When customers ask Rufus a product-specific question, other questions related to the product also pop up in the Rufus chat window to furnish more information about the product.

For example, when customers ask Rufus “What's the material of the backpack?” they can also tap on the related question of “What do customers say?” to know how other customers have reviewed the product.

As per Amazon, customers are asking the Gen-AI assistant Rufus questions like, “What’s the difference between gas and wood fired pizza ovens?”, “Should I get trail shoes or running shoes?” and “Compare OLED and QLED TVs."

Amazon says that the US customers are also asking Rufus questions like, “Where is my order?” or, “When are my dog treats arriving?" Customers are even asking Rufus to decide what to buy based on their previous orders like “When was the last time I ordered sunscreen?”