Amazon rolled out its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, to all U.S. customers in its mobile app.
Why it matters. This move signals Amazon’s push into AI-assisted shopping, potentially transforming how consumers interact with ecommerce platforms.
How it works.
- Rufus uses a specialized large language model (LLM) trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews and web data.
- Customers can ask questions about products, comparisons and buying considerations.
- The AI can provide suggestions for specific tasks or projects.
Why we care. Rufus may change how shoppers discover and research products, potentially altering the customer journey and how it allows advertisers to target customers on Amazon ads.
By the numbers.
- Tested across “tens of millions of questions” during beta.
- Available to Amazon’s entire U.S. customer base.
Key features. Rufus offers:
- Product recommendations and comparisons.
- Insights from customer reviews and expert analysis.
- Updates on fashion trends and the latest tech.
- Assistance with past and current orders.
Yes, but. Early tests show Rufus doesn’t always provide accurate information and its recommendations are limited to Amazon’s catalog.
What’s next. Amazon plans to continue improving Rufus over time.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career started with
delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live, host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, and brand evangelist at ClickTech.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.