Amazon's AI-powered assistant Rufus is now available for US customers in the Amazon app

Amazon first announced its Rufus shopping assistant in February, when the company launched Rufus as a beta for a small set of users. Amazon explained then that it would progressively roll out the assistant for its remaining US customers in the following weeks. Amazon officially launched its AI-powered shopping assistant to all US customers within the Amazon mobile app on Friday, enabling more customers to enhance their shopping experience by asking Rufus all sorts of shopping-related questions.

Rufus was trained extensively on Amazon's product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and third-party information. It can answer questions about shopping needs and products, provide comparisons, and make recommendations based on customers' preferences. Additionally, Rufus has some capabilities that go beyond queries based exclusively on products found in Amazon's catalog. For instance, Rufus can provide assistance tracking active orders and unearthing past purchase information. The assistant can also answer questions that would lead a customer to start a shopping list, such as listing the ingredients for a recipe or the supplies needed to host a party.

To start using Rufus, US customers only need to ensure their app is up-to-date and click the dedicated button (chat bubbles with sparkle) on the Amazon app navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. Amazon recognizes that Rufus is still in its early days and stated customer feedback on the shopping assistant will inform the decisions to improve Rufus as it grows.