GoKawiilAn Amazon device is displayed at an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City on Feb. 26, 2025.
The stand-alone Rufus chatbot will be discontinued, but Amazon said it will use Rufus' recommendation features and shopping history for certain Alexa for Shopping queries. Users can summon Alexa for Shopping by clicking a cursive A icon on Amazon's website or app, or via Echo Show displays.
A little over two years ago, Amazon unveiled Rufus as a key part of its website and app in an effort to take advantage of the generative AI boom, which was sweeping across the the tech sector and into other parts of the economy. Rufus was described at the time as an "expert shopping assistant," and Amazon continued to expand its capabilities, though it remains in beta.
As part of the move, Amazon is adding Alexa to search results on its store, so if users browse for certain products, a chat window will appear with information and a few recommended items.
The company on Wednesday launched Alexa for Shopping, an e-commerce bot that can answer queries and take actions on behalf of users. Amazon said the tool brings together Rufus and Alexa+ , and taps users' shopping history and other data to be "the world's best, most personalized AI assistant for shopping."
Amazon is axing its Rufus chatbot and making its Alexa assistant the centerpiece of its artificial intelligence shopping strategy.
Alexa for Shopping turns Amazon's search bar into a Q&A engine, and also lets users compare products side by side, as well as schedule purchases when an item hits a certain price. A Prime membership isn't required to use the tool.
Amazon is evolving its strategy as the e-commerce industry grapples with the rise of AI shopping bots. OpenAI, Google and Perplexity have rolled out research tools and agents over the past year that threaten to disrupt how people shop online. Some of those efforts have stumbled, and it's unclear whether consumers are ready to hand off the task of completing a purchase to bots.
Daniel Rausch, Amazon's top Alexa executive, said the new offering is superior to other AI shopping tools because it has access to valuable data, such as customer reviews and a vast product catalog. It can also reliably tell a user whether a product is in stock, or estimated delivery times, Rausch said.
"As I'm using it, I'm just realizing why other AI efforts have struggled with shopping because it's not just scraping web results and then putting things in a conversation," Rausch said in an interview.
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