Rufus is an expert shopping assistant trained on Amazon’s product catalogue and information from across the web, to answer customer questions on shopping needs, products, and comparisons, make recommendations based on this context, and facilitate product discovery in the same Amazon shopping experience customers use regularly.
Launching today in beta to a subset of customers on the Amazon.in mobile app, Rufus will progressively roll out in India in the coming weeks.
Amazon has been using AI very expansively for 25+ years to improve customer experiences. The personalised recommendations customers get when they shop the Amazon.in marketplace, the pick paths in our fulfillment centres, and the conversational capabilities of Alexa are just a few examples of experiences fuelled by AI. And we believe generative AI is going to change virtually all customer experiences that we know.
This past year, we’ve introduced a number of new generative AI-powered capabilities on the Amazon.in marketplace to make shopping even easier and more convenient. Our AI-generated review highlights provide customers with common themes from dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of reviews at a glance to help them quickly understand customer insights. We are also using generative AI to make product listings even more informative for customers by helping our selling partners write more engaging and effective titles and product descriptions, and enrich existing listings.
Building on these AI customer innovations, today we are launching Rufus in beta to customers in India. Customers in the U.S. have already asked Rufus tens of millions of questions, and we’re excited to introduce it in India.
From broad research at the start of a shopping journey such as “things to consider when buying a washing machine”, to comparisons such as “should I get a fitness band or a smart watch?” to more specific questions such as “are these durable?”, Rufus meaningfully improves how easy it is for customers to find and discover the best products to meet their needs, integrated seamlessly into the same Amazon shopping experience they use regularly.
With Rufus, customers can:
Learn what to look for while shopping product categories: Customers can conduct more general product research on Amazon.in, asking questions such as “what to consider when buying headphones?” or “things to consider when choosing the right moisturiser” and receive helpful information to guide their shopping mission.
Shop by occasion or purpose: Customers can search for and discover products based on activity, event, purpose, and other specific use cases by asking a range of questions such as “gifting ideas for my wife’s birthday” or “what do I need for my first hike". Rufus suggests shoppable product categories—from consumer electronics to Fashion and Beauty and Home Decor—and related questions that customers can click on to conduct more specific searches. Because Rufus can answer a wide range of questions, it can help customers at any stage of their shopping journey by answering questions not obviously related to shopping, for example, “what do I need to make dal makhani?”
Get help comparing options: Customers can ask Rufus to quickly compare product category features by asking questions like, "which is better 4K OLED TV or 4K LED TV?" so they can find the type of product that best suits their needs and make even more confident purchase decisions.
Find the best recommendations: Customers can ask for recommendations for exactly what they need, such as “what are good gifts for Valentine’s Day?” or “best dinosaur toys for a 5-year-old.” Rufus generates results tailored to the specific question and makes it quick and easy for customers to browse more refined results.
Getting the latest product updates: Customers can shop based on the latest products and trends, by asking Rufus to help keep them up-to-date with questions like, "Suggest top gaming laptops".
Ask questions about a specific product while on a product detail page: Customers can tap on “What do customers say?” to get a quick and helpful overview of customer reviews when on a specific product detail page. Customers can also use Rufus to quickly get answers to specific questions about individual products when they are viewing the product’s detail page, such as “is this jacket machine washable?”, or “is this cordless drill easy to hold?”. Rufus will generate answers based on listing details, customer reviews, and community Q&As.
With Rufus, customers are now able to shop alongside a generative AI-powered expert that knows Amazon’s selection inside and out, and can bring it all together with information from across the web to help them make more informed purchase decisions.
Get started with the Rufus beta
Rufus is now being made available to select customers when they next update their Amazon.in shopping app. Since the beta launch of Rufus in India this August, more than 1 crore customers have used the conversational generative AI shopping assistant to simplify their shopping experience and fulfill their needs.
To use Rufus, customers in the beta can simply click on the icon in the bottom right-hand corner on Amazon’s mobile app and a Rufus chat dialogue box will appear on their screen. Customers can expand the chat dialogue box to see answers to their questions, tap on suggested questions, and ask follow-up questions in the chat dialogue box. Customers can dismiss Rufus to return to their traditional search results at any time by swiping down to send the chat dialogue box back to the bottom of their screen.
Rufus generates answers using relevant information from across Amazon.in and the web to help customers make better, more informed shopping decisions. It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right. We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time. Customers are encouraged to leave feedback by rating their answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and they have the option to provide freeform feedback as well.
We are excited about the potential of generative AI and will continue testing new features to make it even easier to find and discover, research, and buy products in the Amazon.in marketplace.
For more information on Rufus, read here.
