E-commerce giant Amazon India has introduced its AI-powered shopping assistant, ‘Rufus,’ in India, according to a statement from the company.
Currently, Rufus is available in beta mode and only accessible to select customers in India. The assistant helps shoppers by providing product recommendations, offering shopping list advice, comparing product categories, and sharing customer responses to specific queries. Amazon mentioned that Rufus would be gradually rolled out to more users in the coming weeks.
The chatbot was first launched in the US in February this year and was widely made available to all US customers in July. Rufus is trained on Amazon’s data, including product catalogs, community discussions, and customer reviews, and operates on a specialized internal large language model (LLM) designed for shopping.
Amazon emphasized that it’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology may not always be perfect. The company is committed to improving AI models and refining responses over time. Customers can provide feedback by rating answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down and can also give detailed feedback.
The assistant will appear at the bottom right of the navigation bar, and a chat dialogue will pop up. Customers can expand the chat box to view answers, click on suggested questions, and ask follow-up queries.
Last October, Flipkart, Amazon’s competitor, launched its own shopping assistant called Flippi, powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Amazon’s announcement comes just in time for the upcoming festive season sales in India.
FAQs and Answers:
- Is Rufus available on Amazon?
- Yes, Rufus is available on Amazon, but currently, it’s in beta mode and only accessible to select customers in India. It will be rolled out to more users in the coming weeks.
- What is Rufus on Amazon?
- Rufus is Amazon India’s AI-powered shopping assistant. It helps customers with product recommendations, shopping list advice, product comparisons, and answers to specific questions based on customer reviews and feedback.
- What is the name of Amazon’s AI?
- The AI-powered shopping assistant on Amazon is called Rufus.
- Is Amazon working on AI?
- Yes, Amazon is actively working on AI, and Rufus is one of their latest AI initiatives, designed to enhance the shopping experience using generative AI technology.
