Amazon launches AI ‘shopping helper’ Rufus you can unlock with trick today – only true fans know name’s ‘se… – The US Sun
AMAZON has soft-launched its new AI-powered shopping assistant chatbot.
The tool, dubbed Rufus, can do things like answer product questions directly in the search bar of Amazon's mobile app.
The AI bot, which features a conversational tone, can also offer recommendations and comparisons.
Rufus became available on Thursday, February 1 to a “small subset of customers,” according to a blog post by Amazon.
The generative AI-powered shopping assistant was trained on Amazon’s extensive product catalog, customer reviews, and community Q&As.
It can also access information from across the web to answer customer questions on a variety of shopping needs and products.
Rufus "lets customers discover items in a very different way than they have been able to on e-commerce websites," Andy Jassy, the company’s chief executive, said on a call with investors.
"It’s seamlessly integrated in the Amazon experience that customers are used to and love to be able to take action," he said.
If you're one of the selected customers, you can access the AI chatbot by updating the Amazon Shopping app.
However, if you're not a member of this group, you will get access in a few weeks as the product gradually rolls out, Amazon said.
Amazon didn't provide details on how many people are currently part of the tool’s beta release.
Currently, the tool is only being offered to Amazon's customers located in the United States.
The story behind the AI's name, Rufus, is linked to Amazon's own history.
The company has allowed its employees to bring their dogs to work since the early days.
And one of the first canines to visit the company's offices was a sweet pup named Rufus.
Amazon is the latest of several companies that have integrated an AI-powered chatbot onto their platforms.
Last spring, tech giants Microsoft and Google released their respective chatbots for their search engines.
In November 2022, OpenAI made headlines when it released its ChatGPT platform.
Most, if not all, of the aforementioned chatbots have been met with both acclaim and controversy.
While AI chatbot technology is clearly impressive, there have been many flaws with the platforms.
For example, experts have noticed bias, misinformation, and even sexism in some AI-powered chatbots.
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