Amazon has reportedly beta launched its artificial intelligence chatbot, Rufus, an interactive, conversational shopping assistant in a small number of its customers in the U.S.
The new shopping assistant is described as a knowledgeable shopping assistant, trained on both the Amazon product catalog and online data to respond to inquiries from customers regarding needs, comparisons, and products. Rufus can reportedly offer recommendations and help customers find what they are looking for.
(Photo : DENIS CHARLET/AFP via Getty Images)
In this photograph taken on November 18, 2020 in Lille, a person poses with a smartphone showing an Amazon logo, in front of a computer screen displaying the home page of Amazon France sales website.
Reports indicate that the Rufus' launch follows other AI-powered features that Amazon.com has added to improve the shopping experience for its users. These features include tools that assist users in finding clothes that fit, tools that enhance product reviews with summaries of highlights and user sentiment, and tools targeted at advertisers and sellers.
When asked what specific AI model Rufus is built on, Tech Crunch states that to power this experience, Amazon says it developed a brand-new internal Large Language Model (LLM) specifically for shopping and trained it using both its own data and publicly accessible data from all across the internet.
The massive online retailer did not, however, specify if other publicly accessible retail websites were included in the data.
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Rufus' Capabilities
Rufus reportedly works in a multitude of ways such as asking about basic product categories, like what to look for when purchasing for headphones, according to Amazon. Additionally, it can offer contextual guidance, shedding light on things that are appropriate for particular activities like trekking or occasions like holidays or festivities.
Instances Rufus can be utilized also include asking it to create a comparison between two product categories, like asking what the difference is between lip gloss and lip oil or between pour-over and drip coffee makers. Rufus is stated to be capable of making gift recommendations for individuals with specific likes or holiday shopping.
Rufus can also respond to more focused inquiries from customers about a particular product page they are examining, such whether the pickleball paddle they are currently looking at is suitable for novices or whether the jacket they are currently looking at can be washed in a washing machine.
Amazon's Future Plans for Rufus
Those that are enrolled in the beta will see Rufus after updating the Amazon mobile app. In the upcoming weeks, the assistant will continue to be made available to US clients. Customers can use Rufus by speaking or entering their inquiries into the search field once they are granted access to the beta. There will be a Rufus chat box at the bottom of the screen.
Looking forward, Amazon executive Rajiv Mehta says the AI chatbot is still in its early stages thus making the AI chatbot bound to make mistakes. The executive wrote however that the company promises to constantly refine its responses and enhance its AI models in order to gradually make Rufus more useful. Consumers using Rufus are then urged to rate their responses with a thumbs up or down and are also given the opportunity to submit freeform comments.
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