Amazon's AI shopping assistant, Rufus, now available to all US customers

Amazon has announced that its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, is now available to all US customers within the Amazon Shopping app. After a testing phase that began in February, Rufus has graduated to full rollout, aiming to transform how consumers interact with the online retail giant.

"We're excited to make Rufus available to all US customers," said an Amazon spokesperson. "This marks a significant step forward in our efforts to leverage AI to enhance the shopping experience."

What is Rufus?

Rufus is a conversational AI assistant designed to help users shop more efficiently on Amazon. It has been trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and other public information found around the web.

Users can access Rufus through a dedicated icon in the Amazon Shopping app and interact with it via chat. Some of the things it can do include:

Answer product-related questions:

• Unsure about a product's features or compatibility? Ask Rufus!

• Provide personalized recommendations: Based on your past purchases and browsing history, Rufus can suggest products you might be interested in.

• Facilitate comparisons: Need to compare similar products before making a decision? Rufus can help you weigh the pros and cons.

• Assist with purchasing decisions: Rufus can offer insights to help you make informed purchases.

So far the assistant has received good reviews although fears linger about its potential to provide biased information. Amazon has said it will continue advancing the tool with time.