Amazon pilots ‘Rufus’ generative AI shopping assistant in Canada

Amazon Canada is piloting Rufus.

Canadian consumers can now try out an artificial intelligence-based feature in the Amazon e-commerce app.

The e-tail giant is rolling out Rufus, its generative AI-based expert shopping assistant, to select Canadian customers starting Tuesday, Oct. 29. 2024. Rufus is trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&A, and information from across the web to answer customer questions on topics such as shopping needs, product and comparisons; make recommendations based on conversational context; and facilitate product discovery within the mainstream Amazon shopping experience.

Initially piloted in the U.S. in February 2024 and rolled out widely there in July 2024, Rufus is also available to Amazon shoppers in the U.K. and India.

[READ MORE: Amazon releases mobile generative AI shopping assistant]

With Rufus, customers can conduct more general product research on Amazon, with queries such as “types of headphones” or “types of coffee machines” and receive relevant information.

Rufus also enables customers to search for and discover products based on activity, event, purpose, and other specific needs by asking questions such as “What do I need for climbing?” or “I want to start an indoor garden.” 

Rufus then suggests shoppable product categories and related questions that customers can click on for more specific searches. In addition, customers can ask Rufus to compare product category features by asking questions like “What’s the difference between lip gloss and lip oil?” 

To use Rufus, customers in the Canadian beta can click on the icon in the bottom righthand corner on Amazon’s mobile app and a Rufus chat box will appear on their screen. Customers can expand the chat box to see answers to their questions, tap on suggested questions, and ask follow-up questions.