Rufus answers all your shopping questions in the Amazon Shopping app.
Amazon has announced that its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, is now available to all customers in the US, just in time for its annual Prime Day sale.
“Rufus is designed to save customers time and help them make more informed purchasing decisions by answering questions about a variety of shopping needs and products within the Amazon Shopping app,” Amazon said in a blog post on Friday announcing the chatbot’s wider availability. “It’s like having a shopping assistant by your side whenever you’re in one of our stores.”
Amazon first announced Rufus in February, but previously only made it available to a select number of users within its app. Amazon says customers have already asked Rufus tens of millions of questions, and that more will come as Prime Day approaches on July 16 and 17.
Trained on Amazon’s extensive product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and information from across the web, Rufus is a jack of all trades when it comes to shopping.
You can ask for product details (Is this shirt machine washable?) and opinions of other customers. You can also ask the chatbot to recommend specific products or compare categories (e.g., “OLED vs QLED TVs” or “Trail shoes vs running shoes”). It can tell you when your order will arrive or when you last ordered your favorite sunscreen.
Rufus, the Omniscient
Surprisingly for a shopping chatbot, Rufus can also answer general questions about everything from politics to philosophy. The chatbot will tell you which mop to buy and will also give you a link to that mop. and Does it answer my ontological question? I had to give it a try. (Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why it gave Rufus such a wide range of features.)
I opened the Amazing Shopping app and tapped the little orange-and-turquoise icon in the bottom-right corner, which indicates that Rufus is ready to interact. If you’ve ever spoken to a customer-service chatbot, you’ll know the process: Ask a question, either by typing or dictating it (I typed), and get an answer.
First, I asked Rufus what the best products are for cleaning hardwood floors and was immediately given some guidelines on what to keep in mind (“Look for a pH-neutral cleaner that won’t strip your floor finish”). Rufus responded with five specific products for cleaning floors, naturally with links to their Amazon shopping pages. Rufus also suggested follow-up questions I might want to ask, such as “How often should I clean my hardwood floors?”
Sure, I could get the same answer from Google or ChatGPT, and I typed the same question into both and actually got similar answers, but for shoppers who buy a lot from Amazon, Rufus streamlines the research-to-purchase journey.
Rufus talks about the meaning of life
Rufus’s ability to answer questions beyond shopping suggests that Amazon is positioning the product as both a shopping tool and a competitor to ChatGPT to keep consumers in the Amazon ecosystem longer. So after resolving my hardwood floor concerns, I decided to see if Amazon’s AI helper could help me with more important questions than mops, like the meaning of life.
Rufus acknowledged that I had asked questions that philosophers, theologians, and thinkers throughout history have pondered. He then listed and elaborated on the elements that are commonly thought to contribute to a meaningful life—finding fulfillment, being part of something bigger, living ethically, etc. He also suggested additional questions I could click on, such as, “How can I effectively vet reputable charities?”
When my new chatbot friend and I strayed into areas other than housecleaning, I was relieved that Rufus didn’t interject any relevant shopping suggestions.
Rufus, your AI-powered shopping assistant, can talk about more than just shopping.
But when I rephrased the question a bit to ask about products that would make life meaningful, Rufus provided me with Amazon search links to spiritual books, mindfulness and meditation products, and products whose proceeds go to charity and gratitude journals. I appreciated him staying on topic and tapping into my non-spiritual shopping history; it would have been awkward to link to a curtain rail in the middle of a conversation about life purpose.
It’s still early days for Rufus, but I’m hopeful it will maintain its politeness. Amazon says it will continue to improve Rufus with customer feedback, so I’ll be back to see how it evolves as an AI philosopher.
