Amazon’s AI shopping assistant is now available to all users in the US

Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, Rufus, is being rolled out to all US users in the Amazon mobile app. You can open the shopping assistant by tapping the orange and blue icons in the right corner of the app’s navigation bar, where Rufus can answer questions, compare items, and provide updates on your order.

Amazon first introduced Rufus in February, but only made it available to a miniature group of users. Rufus uses details from Amazon product listings, reviews, and community Q&As, as well as some information from around the web, to provide answers.

You can ask the tool questions directly related to the product, such as “Is this coffee maker easy to clean and maintain?”, recommendations for the best outdoor speaker, or even more general questions about products you might need for a summer party. You can also ask Rufus about the status of a recent order.

After updating the Amazon app, I was able to try Rufus for myself. I switched to the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 that I had my eye on and found that Rufus automatically asked a few questions, like “How long does the battery last on a single charge?” While it gave the answer (40 hours), it didn’t mention that this was only true with the Always-on Display turned off (otherwise, it’s around 30 hours).

I also found that it could be used to answer questions completely unrelated to shopping, such as the U.S. election. When asked about key candidate issues, Rufus would link me to Amazon search results for books on abortion rights and gun control. It would also provide me with detailed information about President Joe Biden’s stance on gun control when I asked about it, while also linking me to Amazon search results for gun safety locks and biometric gun safes.

That’s a bit of a concern for a chatbot that’s just been rolled out to everyone. It’s still in beta, so protections around certain topics, like elections, may not be fully fleshed out yet.