Hey, Rufus, who’s a great boy? Huh? Who’s a great boy?
On Feb. 1, 2024, Amazon (AMZN) unveiled Rufus, a generative-AI-powered buying assistant.
Rufus is called after a Welsh corgi that belonged to 2 of the e-commerce big’s earliest workers, Susan and Eric Benson. The doggie was Amazon’s unofficial mascot within the early days, when the corporate operated out of a former janitorial provide warehouse.
Rufus was a fixture within the workplace, attended conferences, and was affectionately often called “Amazon’s shortest volunteer worker.”
The AI model of Rufus, which launched to all U.S. prospects in July 2024, was introduced on board, Amazon mentioned:
- to reply buyer questions on buying wants, merchandise, and comparisons
- make suggestions based mostly on this context, and,
- facilitate product discovery.
Morris/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says Rufus, the e-retail big’s AI-powered buying assistant, is getting used extra broadly.
Amazon CEO: Rufus continues to enhance
So, now that it is 21 months — or 24 canine years — since that first announcement, how is Rufus doing?
“Rufus, our AI-powered shopping assistant has had 250 million active customers this year with monthly users up 140% year-over-year, interactions up 210% year-over-year, and customers using Rufus during a shopping trip being 60% more likely to complete a purchase,” Amazon Chief Govt Andy Jassy mentioned in the course of the third-quarter-earnings name.
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Rufus is on monitor to ship greater than $10 billion in incremental annualized gross sales, Jassy advised analysts, saying the AI buying assistant “is continuing to get better and better and used more broadly.”
Whereas Amazon’s high govt could also be excessive on Rufus, some Reddit customers had been taking after the AI buying assistant with a rolled-up newspaper.
“Rufus is the worst of any AIs I’ve used,” Ret_Photog mentioned.
“I’ve witnessed Rufus say some absolutely false and absurd stuff,” J9fire wrote. “I do not trust it at all. Rufus can only know for sure what is in the product description and pictures, so just read the product description and look at the pictures.”
Different retailers utilizing AI assistants
In fact, Rufus isn’t the one canine within the AI battle.
The cyber pack contains Walmart’s (WMT) Sparky, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Copilot buying, and Goal (TGT), which is testing the Goal AI Present Finder and a chat-based AI buying assistant that operates equally to Rufus.
The usage of generative-AI-powered chat companies and browsers was one of many main developments that Adobe famous in the course of the 2024 vacation buying season, the software program firm mentioned in an August weblog put up.
Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, visitors from generative-AI sources elevated 1,300% from a yr earlier, the corporate mentioned.
On Cyber Monday, the web buying occasion that happens after Thanksgiving, generative-AI visitors was up 1,950% year-over-year.
And whereas generative-AI visitors stays modest in contrast with different channels, similar to paid search or electronic mail, the uptick has been notable, Adobe mentioned.
Almost 40% of shoppers Adobe surveyed mentioned they used gen AI for on-line buying, with 52% planning to take action this yr for such duties as conducting analysis, receiving product suggestions, looking for offers, creating buying lists, and getting current concepts.
AI buying assistants nonetheless face belief points
Conversions — visits that turn out to be purchases — path non-AI visitors sources, however the hole is narrowing.
Whereas AI is used extra in the course of the research-and-consideration stage, “the improvement in recent months shows that consumers are increasingly comfortable completing a transaction directly after an AI-powered chat or browser experience,” Adobe mentioned.
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Belief remains to be a difficulty for AI buying assistants, with members of Gen Z and fogeys of youngsters beneath 18 the almost certainly to have tried the tech, in keeping with a YouGov survey.
“Despite the growing interest among many, most remain skeptical with over half of respondents say they’re not interested in using an AI shopping assistant,” the analysis agency mentioned.
Nearly all of shoppers surveyed mentioned they didn’t see the necessity for this explicit tech, whereas 45% mentioned they like human help.
Issues about privateness and knowledge safety had been cited by a 3rd of respondents and 30% mentioned they had been nervous AI assistants would attempt to upsell them on pointless objects.
Almost 1 / 4 of respondents mentioned they had been nervous that suggestions can be inaccurate.
Belief and skepticism about AI normally are the central boundaries, YouGov mentioned, with some shoppers expressing outright hostility with feedback like they “don’t trust AI,” “hate AI,” and it’s “destroying our planet.”
Others framed AI as a menace to democracy, humanity, and the setting. These sentiments spotlight a deeper resistance, significantly amongst extra tech-wary shoppers.
On the identical time, “the data shows that while there is currently a fair amount of resistance, there is a path forward for retailers’ AI shopping assistants if consumers believe they can add value,” YouGov mentioned.
“For open-minded consumers, this is relatively straightforward – helping them find the right product at the best price, with reliable information they can trust.”
Nonetheless, it’s notably tougher amongst extra skeptical teams “where concerns about privacy, manipulation, and the social impact of AI are commonplace.”
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