The previously revealed AI assistant for Amazon, Rufus, has now debuted on the e-commerce platform several days before the Prime Day event of 2024. It is known that Rufus is here to deliver generative AI-powered capabilities for customers and users who want to ask for certain information about a product, using Amazon's data to deliver responses.
However, how does it fare well in its current state, especially as it was launched mere days before the Prime Day event of the year?
Amazon Rufus, Its AI Assistant, is Now Available to Use
Amazon
Amazon released Rufus, its new AI assistant, last July 12, and it is now integrated into the e-commerce company's Amazon Shopping app, with a dedicated tab for users to easily access. The new AI promises to be one's shopping assistant when browsing Amazon's massive retail catalog, with Rufus promising an extensive experience with what the platform has to offer.
Users who are viewing an item from the online shopping app may pull up Rufus and ask it for information regarding the product, with the AI also capable of pulling up reviews, as well as suggestions.
Will Amazon's Rufus Be Helpful for Prime Day 2024?
CNET's review of Rufus gave an insight into its capabilities and functionalities, claiming that asking it about specific products or recommendations will give users helpful answers. The report also noted that Rufus is more "keyword-driven" meaning that users need to use specific information of what they are looking for on Amazon's massive catalog.
That being said, it was revealed that Rufus was "lacking" when asked about recommendations or sale items for the upcoming Prime Day this July 16 to 17, but there were no specific answers from the chatbot. It was only able to give "basic" answers regarding the upcoming sale event and not much else.
It remains unknown if Amazon will improve this or set its parameters to accommodate the upcoming event.
Amazon's Rufus and Its Generative AI Development
One of the biggest revelations from Amazon earlier this year was its massive focus on expanding its generative AI developments with the introduction of its next-gen AI assistant, Rufus. The new AI assistant is specifically tasked to focus on a whole new retail assistance service, setting it apart from Amazon's renowned voice assistant, Alexa.
It is also known that Amazon started its development of generative AI and its flagship models back in 2023, amidst the time when it was on the rise alongside OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta. Among the first AI models from Amazon is called its Generative AI Suite with Bedrock and Titan forming the first LLMs of the company.
However, Rufus is a special case for Amazon as it created a new large language model for the new AI assistant, madespecifically for online retail shopping experiences. Rufus' release and introduction were done days before Prime Day, but early reviews claim that it is not exactly performing, focusing more on its suggestions and specific products which it has massive knowledge.
