Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) introduces AI into search bar, launches Alexa smart shopping assistant to compete with ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc. Class C Gemini.

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) is further integrating artificial intelligence into its core e-commerce search scene. The company announced on Wednesday that in the future, when users enter search content on the Amazon.com, Inc. website and mobile app, they will directly receive product recommendations and comparison results generated by AI language models based on different contexts. This new feature, named "Alexa for Shopping," will replace the previous shopping assistant "Rufus" by Siasun Robot & Automation. The latter was mainly used to summarize product reviews and provide purchase recommendations, and users previously had to click on a blue and orange icon to access this feature. Amazon.com, Inc. stated that the all-new AI search experience will default to launching for US users starting this week. Amazon.com, Inc. hopes to prevent consumers from turning to AI chat tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Gemini for product searches and shopping decisions. In recent years, internet search platforms including Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) have been continuously integrating AI-generated answers into the search experience, and some AI platforms have even begun partnering with retailers to enhance e-commerce shopping capabilities. Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Alexa at Amazon.com, Inc., mentioned that the retail industry competition is extremely fierce, and AI search can help users make shopping decisions more easily. He stated, "Consumers have a lot of retail choices, and we face enormous competition. If you can make shopping easier and truly help users, you'll eventually benefit from it." According to Amazon.com, Inc., the new system will automatically determine whether to call upon AI capabilities based on the user's search behavior. For example, when users want to compare coffee machines, generate skincare solutions and purchase related products, or set birthday reminders and receive gift recommendations, the system will generate AI personalized suggestions. For simple keyword searches such as "pants" or "bananas," the system will still directly display traditional product listings. In addition to the search function upgrade, Amazon.com, Inc. also announced that users of Echo smart speakers with screens will be able to browse the complete Amazon.com, Inc. website directly in the future. Previously, the browsing capability of Alexa shopping functions on smart speakers was relatively limited. Amazon.com, Inc. has started rolling out the upgraded version of the AI assistant Alexa+ since February 2025. The product underwent a long development process and essentially restructured the original software architecture of Alexa. The subscription fee for Alexa+ is $20 per month, but Amazon.com, Inc. Prime members can use it for free. As for the replaced Rufus, Amazon.com, Inc. mentioned that about 300 million users had used the feature in 2025. Currently, both Rufus and the new Alexa for Shopping feature are freely available to all users.