Amazon introduces Rufus, an AI shopping assistant for its mobile app

Amazon has unveiled Rufus, a sophisticated shopping assistant trained on Amazon's vast product catalog and web-based information. Rufus is designed to answer customer queries, make product recommendations, and facilitate product discovery within the regular Amazon shopping experience.

Rufus is equipped to answer questions about product categories, provide context-based advice for specific activities or events, and present product comparisons. Users can seek general guidance for shopping items such as headphones, or ask for gift and holiday shopping suggestions. The AI assistant is also capable of answering more detailed queries about individual products, for instance, the machine-washability of a jacket or the suitability of a pickleball paddle for beginners.

Users can access Rufus by typing or speaking questions into the search bar on the Amazon mobile application. A Rufus chat box will appear at the bottom of the screen in response.

Amazon's executive Rajiv Mehta acknowledges that generative AI is still in its early stages and encourages customers to provide feedback to improve the AI models and refine Rufus over time.

Rufus was launched in beta yesterday for a limited number of customers on Amazon's mobile app. It will be gradually made available to more U.S. customers in the upcoming weeks.