Amazon Uses Generative AI to Reinvent How Millions Search, Compare, and Buy

Online shopping is undergoing a major overhaul, and Amazon wants everyone to be aware of it.

Amazon says it’s using generative and agentic AI to make shopping “faster and easier,” describing its new approach as an effort to “make customers’ lives better every day.”

The company has been integrating AI into its store for more than two decades, but the current shift is the most comprehensive yet. What started as early recommendation algorithms has evolved into an extensive suite of AI-powered tools designed to help customers navigate hundreds of millions of products across more than 35 categories.

Rufus: The centerpiece of Amazon’s AI strategy

At the center of the company’s revamp is Rufus, its next-generation shopping assistant, which has seen impressive adoption since its rollout last year.

According to Amazon, “More than 250 million customers have used Rufus this year, with monthly average users up 149% and interactions up 210% over the past year.” Furthermore, customers who engage with Rufus during a shopping trip are 60% or more likely to make a purchase.

Rajiv Mehta, vice president of Search and Conversational Shopping at Amazon, emphasized the assistant’s purpose: “We’ve built and keep improving our next-gen in-store AI assistant to be a knowledgeable shopping expert right at your fingertips—one that knows you and your preferences, can help you discover products, compare options and prices, make informed buying decisions, and even take action to get things done faster for you.” 

Smarter search and visual discovery

Amazon is also remaking its search bar. The company said its systems now go beyond keywords, balancing signals like reviews, return rates, and browsing history to understand what shoppers truly want.

Features like Amazon Lens and Lens Live help users find products just by pointing their phone camera. Amazon reports that “Photo searches in Amazon Lens have more than doubled since 2023,” with engagement rising after the newest upgrades.

Tools that decide for you

For shoppers overwhelmed by the endless aisle, Amazon now offers tools that think:

• Help me decide: This tool analyzes a user’s browsing behavior and provides personalized recommendations tailored to their needs.
• Review highlights: Amazon claims these summaries receive “hundreds of millions of impressions weekly,” providing customers with a quick view of what others like or dislike. 
• Hear the highlights: Audio summaries of reviews and product info have streamed “more than seven million minutes of content,” Amazon said. 
• Buy for me: The AI can now purchase products directly from other brand websites on your behalf if it can’t find them in Amazon’s store. Amazon says products available through the feature jumped from 65,000 at launch to “over half a million presently.”

Shopping based on your interests

Another emerging feature is Interests, which allows customers to type phrases like “latest pickleball gear” or “abstract black metal wall art,” and receive ongoing alerts whenever Amazon adds new matching products. The company says nearly 20% of people who create these personalized prompts end up adding recommended items to their carts.

On the money side, Amazon is making AI an essential tool for snagging deals. The Rufus assistant can now show you an item’s price history over the last 30 or 90 days. Even better, you can instruct Rufus to set a price alert or use the auto-buy feature — it automatically purchases the item for you the moment it drops to your target price. Amazon reports that shoppers using this auto-buy tool are saving approximately 20% on average per purchase.

Amazon says it believes AI will transform “virtually every customer experience we know” and has big plans to keep expanding these smart features. 

Looking ahead, Rufus will soon leverage insights from your activities across other Amazon services, such as Kindle, Prime Video, and Audible, to make its recommendations even more spot-on and personal.

As Amazon leans on Rufus and auto-buy tools to guide shoppers, Walmart is testing its own AI-first approach with ChatGPT handling conversational grocery runs and instant checkout.