🤖 Rufus arrives in the UK
On September 4, 2024, Amazon launched its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, in the UK. This follows the success of its rollout in the US earlier this year. Rufus is integrated into the Amazon Shopping app, offering users AI-driven product recommendations, comparisons, and real-time answers to shopping queries. Initially, it’s available to a subset of customers in the UK.
📱 How Rufus helps shoppers
Rufus is trained on Amazon’s vast product catalog and additional data from the web, allowing it to answer broad research questions as well as specific product inquiries. Users can ask about product comparisons or more targeted questions about individual items. Amazon states that this assistant is designed to enhance the shopping experience by making it easier for users to find, research, and buy items.
💡 AI evolution in Amazon’s services
Amazon has long used AI to improve customer interactions, from Alexa’s conversational capabilities to personalized recommendations in their store. "We’ve been using AI for over 25 years to improve customer experiences," Amazon said in a blog post. With Rufus, Amazon continues its AI push, expanding into generative AI technology to power the future of e-commerce.
🚀 What’s next for Rufus
Amazon plans to progressively roll out Rufus to more UK users in the coming weeks, with ongoing tests to add new features and enhance its capabilities. The chatbot icon is available within the app, allowing users to explore the AI assistant, while the option to return to traditional search results remains open by simply closing the chat window.
Do you think AI chatbots like Rufus improve shopping experiences?
